


Attack on Zombies

by SleepyxAsh



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Armin and Eren are recruits, Armin is sweet, Connie is still an idiot, Erwin is sweet, Kenny is a gangster, Levi and Eren don't like each other at first, Levi and Erwin are veterans of the Survey Corps, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, Of course they learn to after a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-09-12 07:15:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 60,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9062002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyxAsh/pseuds/SleepyxAsh
Summary: An alternate universe where the undead, nicknamed Titans, have taken down most of the human population. Eren and Armin find themselves in a gated community, which they both find suffocating. Knowing that they can be freer outside of those suffocating walls, they both enlist in the Scouting Regiment, headed by commander Erwin Smith, who personally asked for Armin to apply. While in the group, Eren meets a surly superior that seems to be more jaded and apathetic than even the zombie apocalypse calls for. Even though this man, Levi, is a jerk, there's something about him that Eren finds intriguing. Of course, no one falls in love during the end of the world...right?Also, I don't like this name, but a proper one completely eluded me. If anyone has any suggestions for a better title, I'd love to hear it!





	1. Chapter 1

_"Jaeger," his early European history teacher droned. Eren jolted upright, not realizing that he had almost fallen asleep. He hated early morning classes, and this one was no exception._

_"Here," Eren yawned before stretching. It wasn't the most exciting class, and having it this early made it so much worse._

_The professor continued down the roll list, his bored tone making it a lot harder for Eren to fight the pull of sleep. Why hadn't he made Armin take this class with him again? Oh, yeah, he had other important things to do...stupid prodigy geniuses._

_"Before we got on with lecture, there's something I want to do," the teacher began. Eren felt dread fill his chest at those words, they were usually followed by the announcement of a pop quiz. "I thought we could talk about these reports that have been showing up on the news."_

_Eren almost sighed aloud in relief. That was before he remembered what reports his professor was undoubtedly talking about. That sickness that had been spreading around lately. It was apparently pretty nasty and caused its host to completely lose their mind. They were going around attacking people like rabid animals. He'd heard a few people jokingly call the infected zombies, which he viewed as bad taste, but it wasn't really any of his immediate concern. He figured that it would all be over quickly enough. There were probably hundreds of geniuses trying to find a cure, and they would make a breakthrough soon._

_With that bit of totally unnecessary self-assurance, he at least attempted to look interested as his professor began talking to the class about it. He finally gave up on actually listening and just closed his eyes. This was all boring, he would just take a small nap and wake up in time to take notes._

_2 years later..._

Eren often found himself thinking back to that lecture, if only to remember his last normal day. It was the last time that he had really felt any peace or security. He remembered how uninterested he had been in the entire outbreak and how naïve he had been about the whole ordeal. He had felt so secure, trusting other people to handle this disaster before it even turned out to be a problem, that he hadn’t even spared the situation a second thought…and why would he have? He’d just been a stupid kid that had only been worried about how he was going to manage to get past his history exam with a passing grade so that he would be able to keep the scholarships that his best friend, Armin, had helped him get.

Now things were a lot different. He no longer had school to worry about, instead he had to worry about living. Every second he was alive was a miracle, and he knew that he had to fight to keep that miracle happening. It was impossible to forget when it was screamed at you every few minutes by a ruthless man that was training you to be a killing machine.

“Eren!”

He flinched before turning to look at his best friend. Armin Arlert was sitting next to him, his shoulder-length blond hair glowing lowly in the dim light that shined from the roof in the mess hall. He was looking at him with concerned blue eyes, as though unsure of what to think. That was a rare look for his friend to have, considering how intelligent the man was. He stared at Eren for a few more seconds with the same expression before sighing. “You spaced out again. That’s not good, you know. We’re not trainees anymore, and if there’s an emergency, it’s our job to respond quickly and efficiently. You can’t do that when your mind is always in other places.”

Eren scowled at his friend. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he snapped. He hated it when Armin lectured him like he was some sort of idiot. Eren knew that he needed to be alert at all times, but it was hard to do when he knew that he was trapped inside of this ‘gated community’ as the leaders of the place preferred to call it. Personally, he liked to call it confinement. “It’s hard to keep your mind focused on this stupid place, when the only thing you want is to be as far away from here as possible!”

“Shhh!” Armin hissed at him, casting worried glances all around the cafeteria. A few people were looking in their direction, but most of the gazes were disinterested. No one had the energy to care about other people’s opinions anymore. “You’re drawing attention!” He put his face in his hands and let out a small groan. It was a noise that Eren had started to associate with Armin’s annoyance, and it was something he was starting to become very accustomed to hearing at least twice a day. Eren knew why Armin was so weary, because he was afraid that speaking like Eren did was just going to get the leaders of this colony to throw him out. He doubted that would happen, but he complied with Armin’s wishes all the same, though he couldn’t refrain from rolling his eyes as he settled down.

He just let out a sound similar to Armin’s and crossed his arms over his chest. “What were you saying while I was spaced out?”

“I was just telling you that we have to pick what group we’re volunteering with by the end of today. I was wondering if you’d changed your mind about wanting to be with the Survey Corps.”

Eren looked over at Armin with a raised eyebrow. He knew that his friend desperately wanted him to reconsider his choice to go into the Survey Corps, but he couldn’t. He hadn’t felt so strongly about this being the right decision in a long time, and he was going to follow his gut. He _hated_ the undead, better known as Titans, and wanted to kill every single last one of them out there. Those stupid undead had taken everything from him, and he wanted to return the favor so badly that his mouth salivated slightly at the thought. He didn’t care what it took; these creatures were all going to pay. It was something that he had already told Armin, and he felt mildly offended that his friend was actually asking him to reconsider going something that he had been wanting to do since he had gotten to this stupid shithole. “No,” he finally said. “I haven’t changed anything. I’m joining them.”

“I am too,” Armin told Eren, trying his best to make himself sound totally at ease with the thought of knowingly throwing himself headfirst into danger. Eren knew him too well for that, however, and knew that Armin would never do anything like that unless there was a good reason. His friend was just too smart.

“No you’re not,” Eren said calmly. He didn’t even really take Armin’s announcement seriously. The blond belonged inside of the meetings with the strategists of the colony. He needed to be advising food rationing, researching the best ways to take down zombies without getting killed, and the best direction for the Survey Corps to head in hopes of finding a more secure shelter than what they had. “You’re going to become an advisor. We’ve already talked about this, and you’ve already been approached about it. Don’t be stupid Armin. Go where you’re needed.”

“I know where I’m needed,” Armin shot back. His voice held a bit of fire in it, making Eren turn to look at his friend sharply. There was no way that Armin was being serious, though he never really remembered the blond having much of a sense of humor; he might have found it in the sickness of this new world. “My strengths are at making split-second tactical decisions,” Armin told Eren. “I need to be out on the field, keeping idiots like you alive. I was approached by Erwin Smith last night. He told me that the other officials had spoken to him about me, and he wanted me on his team.”

“If he’s making you—”

“No one is making me do anything, Eren,” Armin snapped. “I want to do this. If it’s the best way that I can help, then I’m going to do it. I want to contribute as much as I can to this. I know my parents weren’t killed right before me, but they were casualties in this world. I want to avenge their deaths and try to see to it that one day it won’t happen to someone else.”

Eren just looked at Armin silently. What could he say? _Don’t do this, because I don’t want you to die!_ It was the truth—Armin was weak and lacked the athletic ability that it took to keep one alive on the outside—but Eren knew all too well that reasoning would do no good. Anyone that wanted to join that suicide team was already hellbent on their path, and there would be nothing stopping them from that decision, especially not something as trivial as reason.

“Fine,” Eren sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly, but didn’t say anything to start an argument with his friend. He just silently promised himself to be there any time that Armin needed him. If the blond wanted to be brave, then Eren would respect him for it and protect him at all costs. “We can both go and sign up to the groups after we’re done eating.”

Armin actually smiled at him, an expression he had not seen in over two years. He was that happy that Eren had accepted what he was planning to do. Apparently, he didn’t realize how much it hurt Eren to agree to it. Eren attempted a smile in return, but it came off as more of a grimace. He turned away from his friend before his expression became too obvious and looked around the dingy mess hall. The walls were stained grey from smoke and soot. The people all sat at mismatched tables with mismatched chairs, looking down at their food with either determined or resigned looks, depending on what sort of day they were looking forward to, bad or terrible. He hated life inside of the walls, and he didn’t want him or Armin to have to suffer from the depressed mood that always accompanied being there. He wanted his friend to be free, but he didn’t want him to have it at the expense of his life.

That didn’t stop him from just nodding his head as Armin said, “We can go now, if you want. I’m finished eating anyway.” Eren stood up and grabbed his tray, following Armin to the waste bin on the other side of the room. Then they both walked out of the mess hall, side-by-side, to go and sign their own death warrants.

****

Levi was standing beside the front gates of the gated community. He had his back against the wall of a small shed that housed guards that were on lunch break during their shifts on the wall. He was waiting for Erwin and Hange to show up, and the longer he stood there, the less patient he felt. He knew that it was because it was time to start training the newest trainees again, and Erwin always left him with most of the hotheaded idiots. He didn’t know why; his tolerance for bullshit was a lot lower than anyone else’s in the colony. Maybe it was because he wanted the soldiers to take after his no-nonsense attitude while they were on the field. It never really worked. Most of the people that went out with them either die or turn. It was a dangerous job, so the people that go out with them, are the loud and obnoxious ones, because the ones with any sense are inside of the gates with their lives.

“Stupid Erwin,” Levi muttered to himself. Shitty Glasses was probably talking to him, keeping him preoccupied while they were heading this way. The lunatic was trying to get the okay to capture one of those creatures. It had been a request that she had been trying to get granted for over a year. Erwin had been denying her because it was too damn dangerous and a total waste of time, space and resources. They were evil, and needed to be exterminated, and that was all. Levi didn’t know if he believed everything to be as black-and-white as that, but he didn’t voice his opinion, mostly because he didn’t have a strong enough one on the subject to particularly care, and it would be more work if he were to convince Erwin.

“What are you muttering to yourself about?” Levi turned around and saw a familiar blonde with chin length hair. She had a friendly smile on her face despite the knowledge that they were leaving out at first light to do a sweep through of yet another town. This one would be more of a test of the newbies; all of the veterans would observe all of the recruits and decide which ones were worth the weight that they would take up in the trucks, and which ones would be food for the Titans before they made it halfway out the gates on their own.

“I’m cold,” he told her curtly. He didn’t want to have a full-on conversation with anyone at the moment, not when he felt so aggravated. He didn’t even _know_ why he felt irritable. Maybe it was a sense of foreboding; it was as if he could feel something was going to go wrong when they left. With that thought, the iciness in his stomach seemed to drop into even colder temperatures. “Tch.” _This is going to suck._

The veterans slowly started to accumulate a bit later on. Levi wondered if Hange had given him the wrong time as a joke. It sounded like something she would do, trying to be funny. He felt his scowl soften slightly as Furlan Church walked up. The flashy blond was one of his oldest friends, and someone that Levi honestly respected. That was saying a lot because there weren’t a lot of people out there that Levi could say that about. He smiled cheerily at Levi as he came to stand next to his friend.

“Where’s Isabelle?” Levi inquired. It was strange seeing one of them without the other. They were both extremely talented fighters, skills that they had picked up in the same manner that Levi had, but neither of them had ascended the chain of command like he had. It was because Erwin Smith didn’t really trust him. Levi couldn’t really begrudge the man. If Levi was in Erwin’s shoes, and the rest of humanity—at least the parts that they know about—rested on his shoulders, he wouldn’t trust a lying thief either. Levi had been the leader of their gang, and Erwin had saw it fit to keep both Furlan and Isabelle away from him, though he’d had no luck keeping the duo separated from each other, which was why Levi was surprised to see Furlan by himself.

“She hurt her foot a few days ago in a training exercise,” Furlan told him. “She insisted that she was okay, not that I believed her. I made her go to the healer’s station, and they forbid her to go. They said that her ankle was fractured.” Furlan scowled. “That crotchety bitch had the nerve to look at me like I was trying to get her to _go_. Hell, I was trying to get her to stay behind.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Tch. Idiot.” He didn’t know if he was talking about Isabelle or the other woman. Either situation would have worked. Levi might not have said much, but he didn’t have to be a verbal person to be observational. Any idiot could see that Furlan cared deeply for Isabelle, and would know that he wanted to keep her as far away from danger as she could stay.

Furlan nodded in agreement but remained silent. “Sorry I was so late getting here,” Erwin’s voice hit his ears a moment later. Levi slowly turned and looked at the tall and muscular blond man that was standing in front of the small crowd of troops. He had neatly brushed blond hair and a well put-together suit. Levi knew that it was a show to let the other people know that Erwin was a neat individual with everything calm and collected. “I had a couple of things that I had to attend to before coming, and one took a lot longer than I had originally anticipated.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pants pocket and unfolded it. He looked it over for a moment before looking back at the veterans and smiling. “We have twelve recruits this time; the names of these brave young men and women are: Sasha, Connie, Jean, Marco, Bertolt, Reiner, Annie, Ymir, Christa, Mikasa, Armin and Eren.” He looked around at the older soldiers and said, “I’ve asked them to stay in the Survey building while I talked to you guys. I know that you’re all tired and you don’t want to have to train any newcomers, but please treat them as equals and protect them as you would a comrade. They’re in our circle now, and you should treat them with due respect.”

Levi silently wondered which jackass had badmouthed the recruits this time. It was the only time that they ever got this speech. It was cold outside, and he didn’t have time for any of this. All he wanted to do was get back into a house with a fire burning so that he might be able to warm up his frosty hands. He was kicking himself for forgetting his gloves in his sleeping quarters.

“Petra,” Erwin called. “Could you please go and get the recruits. They need to be properly introduced to the regiment.”

“Yes sir,” Petra said. He nodded in her direction as she walked away from the group. Levi stared after her for a moment in disbelief. She was too nice and helpful. It was going to cause someone to take advantage of her one of these days, and Levi was going to have to gut them for it. Most of the time weak and kind people were synonymous to him, and all of them pissed him off. Petra was the only exception, and he didn’t want to see something as pure as that be washed away.

“You look distracted, Levi,” Furlan said, snapping him out of his train of thought.

“It’s nothing,” Levi told his friend curtly, and it really wasn’t anything at all.

 

Eren hadn’t felt self-conscious in over two years. He knew that he looked like utter shit, but so did everyone else that he was around. The apocalypse was not a beauty contest, but when he walked out of that building and followed the nice woman, he thought her name was Petra, toward the walls of the colony he started feeling a bit uneasy. All of the veterans were in his sight, and their gazes were starting to psyche him out. It was as though they were measuring him up for a coffin instead of just glancing him over to see what he looked like. Everyone looked haunted and _tired_ , and like they all needed a large hug…not that Eren would have been brave enough to venture forward and attempt it. They might have looked weary, but he had no doubt that they were all veterans for a reason.

“Alright!” Erwin Smith’s booming voice hit his ears and he stood a bit straighter. He refused to look as intimidated as he felt. “Survey Corps, meet your newest recruits!”

 

“Okay, brats, listen up!” Eren’s first impression of Levi had been one of mixed emotions. The man was terrifying, for lack of a better word, and Eren cringed to think of how easily he would be able to kill Eren. Would the man even blink? With the cold and harsh way that he looked at everything, Eren doubted it. He quickly brushed that thought out of his head. He had to trust the people that he went out on this raid with. They were going to have his back and make sure that he made it to the colony in one piece. He couldn’t die before he achieved his dream of killing all of the undead. He shook his head, clearing it of the unnecessary thoughts and tuned back into what Levi was saying. “I’ve been placed in charge of half of you for this mission. I am _not_ a babysitter. I will not be holding your hand. If you want to be Titan shit, I will not stop you, but do not do anything stupid that’s going to get anyone other than yourself killed! Am I clear?”

They all nodded their heads vigorously. No one wanted to disagree with their captain, so to speak; he was a scary man. “When we get to the town, I want you all to pair up into teams of three. Do not get separated from your comrades at any time. If something happens, you will each have a flare gun to fire. This will attract Titans as well as us, so only use it in life-or-death situations.” Levi paused for a second, as if debating on whether to say something. Apparently, he decided against it, because he simply said, “That’s all. Find a vehicle and get in.”

Eren scrambled to get into one of the armored vans and sat in the very back, next to Armin. There were a few others from their training group as well—Eren spotted Connie and Sasha—but most of the people were veterans. They were all silent, and no one wanted to fill the void with chatter. They all just allowed each other to sit in peace with their thoughts as the truck rolled along, past the gates and into Titan territory.

 

Eren felt surprisingly at peace the entire ride out. Some of the veterans chatted amongst themselves, but no one really got too noisy. It was as though they were trying to prepare themselves. Eren felt nervousness start to tickle the pit of his stomach, and he didn’t really know why. He’d faced and killed zombies before. The Titans were nothing to scoff at, but they were all stupid, and easy to manipulate. Killing one wasn’t that difficult, as long as people were sure to keep their guard up and not get too cocky. He figured that it must have been the thought of putting themselves through hell after they had been inside of that nice, protected cell. The only person who didn’t look troubled was Levi…though his facial features hadn’t changed in the least since he’d been in the shorter man’s presence.

“Stop the car,” a man with longer golden brown hair and a goatee said. The driver, an older man with greying brown hair obeyed immediately and turned to look at the speaker, who was sitting directly behind him, with a raised eyebrow. “Supplies are in there.” The man pointed toward a large subdivision that was immediately to their left. All of the houses were nice brick homes…or Eren imagined that they were supposed to be nice. It was hard to tell when the windows were shattered and blood was splattered all over the walls and the porches. The occasional body was seen strewn across a lawn or down the small street. On the first yard of the subdivision, Eren saw a tattered, blood-spattered sign. Past all of the gore, he was able to decipher the name: _Trost Subdivision._

“Are you sure about that, Mike?” the driver asked incredulously. “That place looks like it’s been ransacked already.”

“I can smell it,” the man named Mike said stubbornly. “Has my nose ever steered you in the wrong direction?”

Before the driver could reply, there was a loud knock on the window behind the man. Eren saw his eyes go wide as he flinched. “Relax Oluo,” Levi sighed, sounding bored. “It’s just Petra.”

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack, girl?” Oluo demanded angrily as he rolled his window down. “What’s wrong with you?”

“The commander wanted to know the same about you,” Petra told him sternly. “Why have you pulled over in the middle of a road. Titans could be anywhere!”

“Mike said he could smell supplies,” Oluo told her. “Yell at him!”

“Tch,” Levi sounded. “Tell Erwin about it, and ask him if he wants to detour here and get the supplies. If he does, you can just drive around us and lead the way.”

“Yes, sir,” Petra nodded in agreement. She turned around and quickly walked away from the van. A few moments later, the other van was pulling in front of them and turning into the subdivision. Eren said nothing as Oluo followed them, but that didn’t stop the strong sense of apprehension that he felt as they pulled to the center of the community. Something about this entire place felt off.

Eld, a man with blond hair pulled back into a bun was sitting next to Mike. He turned around to look at both Eren and Armin. He smiled, though Eren though that the action was forced. It was as though he could feel the exact same foreboding sensation that Eren did but was trying to be brave in front of the newbies. “Don’t do anything stupid while we’re here,” Eld told them. “It’ll just be a quick in-and-out mission, as long as you guys stay close by and don’t try anything courageous.”

Eren nodded silently, and saw Armin doing the same thing out of the corner of his eye. He would do what he was told as long as it was within reason. He could listen. The van pulled to a stop and Levi opened his door first, hopping out of the front passenger’s seat to look at their surroundings with narrowed eyes. Did something feel wrong to everyone? Eren pushed that thought away almost immediately. If it felt off, they wouldn’t be here. He was just being paranoid.

Eren and Armin waited for Mike and Eld to step out before they clambered from the back seat. They were all standing in the middle of the road, waiting for orders. Eren saw Levi, Mike, Hange, and Erwin standing in a group, speaking lowly amongst themselves. He looked away and turned back toward the small crowd that made up the rest of the subordinates.

“Do you think that we can get food here?” Sasha’s excited voice met his ears, and Eren looked in her direction with a raised eyebrow. She had been talking to Connie, a short man with brown hair shaved near his scalp.

“Do you ever think about things other than food, Sasha?” Connie demanded. He had to look up at the pretty brunette, who had a good few inches on him. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, leaving her excited face visible. Her expression didn’t change with Connie’s demand, obviously too hung up on the thought of a meal to pay him any attention. “You should be more worried about the Titans that could be around here! The undead aren’t anything to just scoff at!”

Eren looked away from them after a moment, knowing the argument that was about to quietly unfold all too well. It was the same one that he’d heard day after day during the training that they had all received together. Some days it was amusing and others it was just annoying, and as nice as the thought of having something distract him from the horror that was bound to become his life in the next few moments, he knew that he needed to remain focused. It was the only way that he was going to make it out of all of this with his life intact. There was something very wrong with this place, and until he found out what, he would be on his guard.

“Alright!” Erwin’s commanding voice reached their ears. He wasn’t talking too loudly, obviously being cautious to not attract any of the undead that were bound to be stumbling around. “We’ll be splitting up into four separate teams, led by Levi, Hange, Mike and myself.  I want half of the recruits with me and half with Levi. Stay quiet and be sure to keep your guards up.”

“You go with Erwin, blondie,” Oluo said, nudging Armin. “I know you and Jager are friends, and that’s why you need to split up.” Eren could hear the words _mission comes first_ without them being spoken, but that didn’t stop his heart from clenching painfully in his chest as he saw Armin’s wide eyes look from Oluo to Eren.

He looked over at Armin and nodded, “Go on, then, Armin,” he said. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“O…okay,” Armin muttered. He looked terrified for a few more moments before he seemed to compose himself. He smiled over at Eren and said, “I’ll see you soon.” He marched off toward Erwin’s forming group with his head held high. Eren watched him walk off, praying for his friend’s safety.

“Don’t look so down, kid,” Oluo told him gruffly. “You don’t go on missions if you can’t pull your own weight.” His rough demeanor changed after a moment, as though he realized that he’d sounded like a complete ass. “Don’t worry about him. They’ll keep him alive. He got through the training, which means that he was adept enough to come out here.”

Eren jerkily nodded before turning away from him and walking toward the group that was forming in front of Levi. “We’re in charge of this quadrant of the subdivision,” Levi said, pointing to the corner that was behind him. “Get into groups of threes and keep each other safe. I want each veteran grouped with two recruits. Show them the ropes and keep each other alive. No flares unless a dire situation. Everyone pick a house and comb through it.”

He saw recruits start to merge together with the veterans, and walked further into the crowd. “You and the loud one can come with me.” Eren jumped slightly at the unexpected noise and spun around to see Levi himself standing behind him. He saw Connie next to Levi, and figured that was who the strong fighter meant by loud one. Eren nodded at Levi, doing a quick once over of him, seeing as it was the first time he’d ever been in close quarters with the man that was dubbed ‘humanity’s strongest fighter.’ He was short, for lack of a better word. He may have had an inch or two on Connie, but there was still a large height difference between the surly man and Eren. The thought might have been comical if Eren wasn’t certain that Levi would be able to maim him in less than a full second after he mentioned it. His hair was black, with the sides shaved close to his scalp, and the top hung down, parted in the middle, covering most of his ears. He looked at Eren with half-lidded grey eyes, for a few moments before turning away from him with the same disinterested look that always seemed to be on his face.

“Yes, sir,” Eren replied.

Levi rolled his eyes. “There’s no need to call anyone sir,” he grumbled before he turned completely around and began heading toward the house that was directly behind them. “We’re not in the military. The world has gone to shit, and we’re all just trying to survive it. I’m Levi, and you’re Eren and Connie. Let’s keep it that way.”

Eren and Connie both looked at each other for a few seconds before they shrugged simultaneously. He had a point, Eren supposed. “Alright, then Levi. I think we can do that.”

They all walked up to the doorway and Levi grabbed the knob and attempted to turn. There was a clicking noise, signaling that the door was locked. Levi sighed in obvious annoyance before gesturing to Eren and Connie to back away. They both silently obeyed and Levi took a step back and pushed his leg forward so that the underside of his foot connected with the wood of the door. It swung in with a loud _crack_ and _thud._ Levi turned around to look at them and tilted his head toward the doorway in a universal gesture to hurry up and move before he turned to face forward and walked into the house. Eren took a deep breath and walked in behind him. He grabbed the blades that were holstered on his hips, gripping them firmly in preparation for use.

The door opened to a large living room with a wrecked leather couch that was torn to shreds with the stuffing falling out of it, an upturned recliner, and blood-spattered white carpet…or at least Eren figured that it had been white two years previously. Connie was taking in the scenery as well, and had a grimace on his face that Eren was sure matched his own. “Go through the stuff in the kitchen,” Levi told them. “Start making a pile in the middle of the living room of all the valuables.”

Eren and Connie both nodded in acknowledgment before they turned away from Levi and strode into the adjoining kitchen. It looked like it was in better condition than the living room had been. It made Eren a bit weary, because that meant that thieves hadn’t been the ones to make this mess. If robbers hadn’t been the ones to trash the living room, then who—or _what—_ did? Eren slowly slid his knife out of its sheath and kept it in his hand as he walked through the kitchen. It was a fairly open space; there were no corners for any of the Titans to hide in, so Eren had nothing to worry about in that aspect.

Connie just sighed and opened the first cupboard. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed, before realizing that he had been a bit louder than necessary and winced when Eren spun around and scowled as soon as he realized that there was nothing wrong. He looked up and noticed what Connie had: the entire cabinet was filled with canned goods. “How did Mike know?” Connie demanded.

“I don’t know,” Eren told Connie truthfully. “It doesn’t matter, though. Let’s just get this stuff down and do what Levi said.”

“Right,” Connie said, turning back to the cans and grabbing them to sit down on the counter. “You know what,” he said after a moment. “Why don’t I take them into the living room? You’re taller than me and can reach more.” Eren could tell that it had almost killed the shorter boy to admit that, but was glad that he had so Eren didn’t have to point it out. He just nodded and walked up, grabbing the cans and placing them down so that Connie could grab an arm-full and carry them over to the living room.

They continued like this for some time. Four out of the eight cupboards in total had been filled with canned goods. Those nonperishables would be a godsend in the event that their crops or livestock didn’t turn out what was needed to sustain the lives of the people that were living in the gated community. Eren couldn’t help the small grin that started lifting the corners of his mouth at the thought. They were going to be okay because of this; he’d been able to be useful already, and he’d only been out of the community for a little over an hour. It was a good feeling, very empowering.

“Come on, brats,” Levi said gruffly as he walked out of the hallway and into view. Eren didn’t fail to notice a few blood spatters on the man’s boots, but he seemed unharmed, and Eren hadn’t heard any noise. He guessed he was considered humanity’s strongest fighter for a reason. “Are you not finished yet? We still have other houses to look into.”

Connie scowled at the older man as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Sorry that we’re not living up to your expectations, but there’s a lot of shit here.”

Levi frowned, not a Connie, but at the pile that the man had managed to build up. “Damn,” he muttered. “I guess Mike wasn’t lying.” Eren followed Levi’s gaze and saw, with some relief, that Connie had found some boxes and had been putting the cans inside of those instead of just sitting them on the floor. So far, there were two large containers filled to the top, and another one that was about halfway there.

“We’re almost finished filling them up,” Eren told Levi. “We’d be done even sooner if you’d lend a hand.”

Levi turned toward Eren and scowled at him. “Tch,” he sounded. Despite the glower, however, he walked up to the kitchen and grabbed some cans so that he could help fill the third box up.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

Eren paused, his hand on the final can, as he turned toward the noise. It was coming from the far side of the kitchen, behind a closed door that Eren figured was either the pantry or the laundry room. “The hell was that?” Connie asked. Eren took a step toward the noise, grabbing the knife that he’d laid on the counter for easy access as he moved toward the door.

“Jager,” Levi snapped. “Don’t be stupid. We don’t know what’s behind the door, and we need to keep it that way.”

Eren turned around and frowned at Levi and said. “Are you crazy? There could be all sorts of goods behind it that we need. It was going to be the place that I checked next anyway. Why would we leave it alone now?”

Levi stalked toward him. He came to Eren’s chin, but he didn’t seem to care about that at all. He scowled at him and asked, “What good will any of those supplies do you if you’re dead?” Eren didn’t give in, he just glared at his superior, to which Levi just rolled his eyes. “Tch, idiot. Fine.” He waved him on. If you want to be food for the undead, I’m not going to stop you.”

Eren scowled, hating the belittling way that the shorter man spoke to him. He turned around and walked toward the door. He would show Levi that he was able to do this, and he didn’t need his superior help.

 

Levi looked at the idiot disbelievingly. He was serious. The sound of those bangs had been too close together to be done by a single Titan. He wanted to watch the little shit be torn to shreds because of his stupidity and insolence, but he knew that he would never actually be able to stand by and watch someone be eaten alive, no matter how dumb they were. Levi sighed and walked forward, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to talk Eren out of this, especially after he talked down to him and hurt his pride. He guessed if he couldn’t stop Eren from doing something stupid, he would just have to join him and make sure that he didn’t end up killing himself. He didn’t have time for that to be on his conscience.

He stood next to the door and turned to see Connie walking up behind him. Great…him too. He was going to have to speak with Erwin about his brilliant idea to pin only two of the groups with hotheaded newbies. They were all stupid and cocky with no idea how dangerous these bastards were. Levi shrugged. He guessed that this was one way to learn. Regardless, if anyone got hurt during this stupid idea, Levi was going to beat the shit out of Eren, and no one was going to be able to get him to stop.

He rolled his eyes and crept up behind Eren, ready to attack as soon as the idiot opened the door. The only thing that was going through his mind as he watched the boy turn the knob was _how did my life come to this…babysitting stupid brats?_

Eren turned the knob, and Levi sighed as those bastards barreled their way through the opening, swinging the door open, and knocking Eren backward. There were five of them in that closet, much to Levi’s surprise. He figured that there would have only been the three that he’d heard. Also, to Levi’s surprise, Eren didn’t let the door throw him off too much, and both he and Connie didn’t falter when the rotting, walking corpses starting running toward them. Eren intercepted the first one. He tripped its legs out from under it and slammed it face-first into the tile floor. Levi heard the crack of its skull as soon as it made impact, and saw Eren plunge his knife down toward its neck.

 He couldn’t watch any more of Eren’s fight, because he had two of them flinging themselves at him. He ducked underneath the swing of the first zombie’s arm and brought his knife around, slicing through the flesh on the nape of its neck. It fell to the ground immediately and Levi jumped at the second, sliding just out of its reach so that he could come behind it and cut out the only part of its body that would kill it. Levi looked around and saw that both Eren and Connie had dispatched the other two titans that had still been standing. They were both breathing a bit heavily, making it obvious that they were still just new, no matter how talented they were.

Levi snatched Eren forward and brought him down so that they were nose to nose. “Don’t _ever_ do something that stupid again,” he growled. “If you do, I swear I’m going to kill you myself so you can’t take others down with you.”

Eren looked up at him with wide eyes for a moment before the green orbs darkened and he shoved Levi off him. Levi would have called that a very stupid act any other time, but with how wound up both of them were, he figured that putting some distance in between the two of them was probably a good idea. Levi just inhaled sharply and kicked out at one of the dead bodies, displaying a moment of anger before quickly composing himself again.

“Go ahead,” he nodded toward the pantry. “Grab the valuables from there. I’ll load up the rest of the cans and start taking them out to the vehicles.”

Connie nodded and already turned around to begin doing what he had been ordered. Eren, on the other hand, just looked at him for a moment, anger bright in his green eyes as he said, “Yes, _sir_.” He then turned away from Levi and walked into the pantry with the shorter male.

Levi glared at Eren’s back for a moment before he just rolled his eyes. “Tch,” he muttered as he turned away from them and began grabbing the cans and walking them to the boxes that were seated in the living room, being mindful to step over the bodies as he went. “Brat.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you all enjoyed the first chapter and are happy to see the second. I hope that I portrayed Armin's character correctly. I figured that he would ramble a lot in his head, over analyzing everything. He comes up with insanely amazing plans with almost no time to come up with them. I figure that is the reason. I hope that you like it, and if you have any requests as to what you would like to see, feel free to comment!

Armin was nervous as he walked away from Eren. He knew that he was going to have to prove himself capable without his best friend around if he ever wanted to be considered a true member of the scouting regiment of the town. It was just that in all of his mental calculations, he hadn’t foreseen being separated from his friend so early in their new careers.

Erwin’s group wasn’t as large as Levi’s, so instead of branching off into groups of three, like Armin saw the other groups doing, Erwin ordered his team to branch off into duos: a veteran and a newbie in each. “You look worried, Arlert,” Erwin’s strong voice came from his side. Armin repressed the urge to jump as he slowly turned around to face the other blond man. He was looking down at Armin with polite inquisition, an expression that Armin saw on Erwin’s face almost every time he looked at the man. It was as though his formal demeanor never came off, even during missions.

“N-no, sir,” Armin squeaked before he got himself back under control. He took a deep breath and gave Erwin the most confident smile that he could muster and said, “I was just thinking about my friend…he can be stupid at times, and I’m hoping that he’s going to be okay.”

“Have no worries,” Erwin told him. “He’s in good hands. You’ll see him soon.” He looked around before looking back down at Armin. “It looks as though you have yet to team up with anyone. Would you care to be my partner for the expedition?”

“Not at all,” Armin said after a moment. He smiled at Erwin again as the man gestured toward a house with blood stains on the otherwise off-white walls. “Thank you, sir.”

“No problem,” Erwin told him, waving away his thanks. “I should be thanking you. After all, you’re the one that joined the regiment at my request. It’s not the safest job, and you put a lot on the line for it. I’m glad to have such a bright mind to work with. I believe we’ll get along rather well, don’t you?”

“O-oh yes, sir,” Armin said, tripping over his words before he was able to properly get them out of his mouth. He hoped that they did, at least. Otherwise, it would be an extremely awkward situation, one that he wasn’t entirely sure that he had the heart to handle for the rest of his life, though there wasn’t really any telling how long that would be.

Erwin turned the knob, and much to Armin’s surprise, it opened for them without any problems. Armin looked down and saw that his hands were shaking. _Calm down, Arlert,_ he coached himself. _You’ve learned everything that you need to know. If you don’t stay calm, then you’re going to get yourself killed before you can make a difference._ Besides, Erwin was there with him, and he didn’t want to look incompetent in front of his leader, and he certainly didn’t want to be the reason that his commander was hurt or killed. _Yeah,_ he thought to himself bitterly, _no pressure there at all._

The living room was dark and empty. There were very few windows to let light into the rooms, and the ones that were present were covered by dark and thick curtains, knocking away most of the sunlight.  Erwin walked over and made quick work of them, allowing more light to beam in. In the faint glow, Armin could see that the entire interior, for as far as his eye could make out, was wrecked. All of the furniture was broken; glass was almost everywhere on the scraped and stained hardwood floors. The worst part was the skeleton that was laying on the ground in between the kitchen and living room. A large rusty stain was surrounding it, and spatters of the same stuff were even farther out. Armin had a feeling that the body hadn’t just decayed. It had been picked clean. But where were the creatures that had cleaned it? He doubted that they had suddenly become smart enough to close the door behind them after they left the house.

“Careful,” Erwin murmured to Armin as he looked away from the body and farther around the dark house. “We’re not alone.” It was nice to know that Armin wasn’t the only one with that suspicion. He allowed his eyes to roam around with Erwin’s. He didn’t really know what he was looking for. If the Titans were anywhere within their immediate vicinity, they would have already attacked them.

“We can clear out the house before we look for any goods,” Erwin told Armin, who nodded in agreement. He wasn’t about to argue with a seasoned veteran. He immediately walked toward Ewin when the blond beckoned him forward. He pulled out his knife, imitating the commander, and looked up at him expectantly. Part of him wondered if he should be showing initiative in front of the commander, but he immediately banished that thought. Erwin was a seasoned veteran, and he knew that this was not a premeditated game where one could act any way that they would like and not be hurt. It was better to wait and do what he was told after Erwin decided a plan of action.

Erwin made a gesture for Armin to follow him. He stayed behind Erwin as the man walked into the kitchen. It was empty too, with even more blood spatters. There were no other entrances on this side of the house where the Titans could have wondered inside, so that only left the back of the house, where Armin supposed the bedrooms and bathrooms would be. “Would you like to stay in here and begin looking for supplies?”

Armin wanted nothing more than to nod in agreement, but there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him shake his head. “No. We’re supposed to be partners, and what kind of partner would I be if I let you look for the Titans by yourself?” Erwin smiled at Armin, and it made his chest warm slightly. His answer had won his superior’s approval. He knew that Erwin was more than capable of getting rid of any threats by himself, but they both had this responsibility, and it was only fair that Armin help.

“Very well,” Erwin told him. He turned around and walked back out of the kitchen. Armin silently followed him, not wanting to make any unnecessary noise in case a zombie did show up. They both walked into the hallway that was straight off the living room. It was lined on either side by several doors. Erwin got to the first one before he turned around to look at Armin. “We don’t separate.”

“Yes, sir,” Armin whispered back.

Erwin looked at him for a few more seconds, probably trying to gage whether Armin was being honest or not, before he turned back around and opened the first door. It was dark, once again, and Armin had to squint past Erwin’s arm to see even silhouettes inside. There was a loud clattering noise a moment later, and Armin knew that there was _something_ inside. He heard that creepy noise of teeth clumsily chattering together and a low, inhuman growl a second later. Running feet came next, and Erwin took a step back. Armin felt his back hit the wall hard enough for the breath to knock out of him. He looked down with wide eyes, and saw that Erwin’s arm was on his chest. It moved a moment later, along with the large man, to intercept a looming figure in the hallway.

Armin watched in awe as Erwin acted before the zombie could, and snatched in forward by its hair. It felt face-first into the ground a minute later. Erwin moved to cut the meat out from the dead woman’s neck, but she scrambled away from him before he could. Armin hurriedly pushed himself off the wall; he was about to jump forward and finished the job that the commander had started, but Erwin halted him with a gesture of his hand. He frowned at the corpse, and Armin frowned confusedly at the commander.

“There’s something not right about this one,” Erwin told Armin. He spoke calmly, but Armin could almost feel the unease that radiated from the large man’s body. It was unnerving, and made him feel jumpy. Whatever was wrong with this Titan wasn’t good.

“W-what do you want to do, sir?” Armin asked shakily.

“It looks like Hange will be getting her wish today,” Erwin sighed. He looked at the woman Titan, who stared back. Armin frowned as he realized that the expression on her face seemed to have changed. Erwin frowned as well, apparently noticing the same thing. “Can you understand us?”

The creature gave no indication that it was able to comprehend what Erwin had asked. Erwin sighed and said, “Armin, I’m going to tackle it. I want you to run for the front door. Find one of the squad leaders and tell them that I require some help. Understand?”

“Shouldn’t you—”

“It wasn’t a request, Arlert,” Erwin cut him off. His tone never changed and his eyes never wavered from the walking corpse. Armin’s face flushed all the same with embarrassment at Erwin’s polite scolding.

“Yes, sir,” Armin murmured. He refrained from apologizing, figuring that the commander needed to concentrate on the present threat. “I understand.”

“Good.” That was all Erwin said before Armin saw his foot move forward. Armin tensed, and took off as soon as Erwin had hit the undead girl.

He didn’t look back as he rushed out of the open doorway and down the porch. Mike was the first one that Armin came across. He was easy to spot in the middle of the street, carrying cargo to one of the many vans. Not knowing how else to address him, Armin lowly shouted, “Mike!”

He turned took look at Armin with a raised eyebrow. There was nothing condescending about the look, nor reprimanding for using the man’s first name. It was just pure inquisition. “What is it?” he asked after a moment. He shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I’ve forgotten your name.”

“It’s not important,” Armin said quickly. “Commander Erwin needs help. There’s a Titan….” He trailed off as Mike shoved the boxes into his empty arms and rushed past Armin to the house that Armin had just come out of, disappearing through the open door just moments later.

Armin sighed and quickly ran over to the van and shoved all of the boxes into a halfway full trunk before turning around and rushing back into the home. He didn’t really know what good he would be, but he knew that there was a chance that his assistance would be needed. He made it through the door and saw that Erwin and Mike had the zombie pinned to the wall of the hallway. The creature was outrageously strong, and was trying to squirm her way out of their grip. Armin saw her jaw snap threateningly way too close to Erwin’s face for comfort before doing the same to Mike. Neither man faltered, much to Armin’s admiration.

Armin hurriedly looked around, searching for something to help restrain her with. He saw a large sheet on the floor near the window, as though whoever lived in the house before had camped out in the living room instead of using one of the bedrooms. He ran to the sheet and grabbed his knife, fumbling with it due to shaky hands before he managed to steel himself and cut the sheet into strips. He ran back over and fell to his knees in between the two large men, not bothering to verbalize any sort of explanation, not that they asked for one. He quickly tied a knot around one of her ankles before using all of his strength to pull both of her legs together and wrap it around the other ankle and tying the fabric together. He repeated this process two more times with two more strips before he was satisfied that she would not be able to break the restraints on her legs. He quickly stood up and reached for one of the restrained hands. He had to jerk his hand back as the Titan slashed at him as much as she could in her compromised position.

“Be careful, Arlert,” Mike grunted as he held the woman a bit more firmly. Armin moved again, quickly wrapping the strip of fabric around her wrist and moving back before she could swing her restrained arm. He quickly tied a knot so that the sheet wouldn’t slide off the creature and moved to the other side, wrapping it around and tying it.

“Get ready, Mike,” Erwin said. Armin saw the blond nod curtly out of his peripheral vision. “Step back. Armin!” Erwin yelled. Armin immediately jumped away from the Titan and Erwin and Mike moved almost completely in sync. They snatched the zombie off the wall that her back was on and flung her to the other side, having to drag her because of her immobile feet. They secured her hands behind her back and used the fabric that Armin had attached to each wrist to wrap firmly around her appendages, securing them together.

Armin let out a breath of relief before leaning against the other wall. He wasn’t tired from exertion, but from stress. He honestly hadn’t been expecting to capture a Titan, especially when he’d heard rumors around about Commander Smith refusing Hange’s request to capture one and experiment on it. Armin knew that it wasn’t his place to question the decisions that his superiors made, but that didn’t stop him from pushing himself off the wall a moment later and asking, “Why that one?”

“It’s different,” Erwin replied. He didn’t sound angry about Armin’s question at all. He just looked down at the zombie, who’d fallen to the ground. It was making growling noises as it tried to get back to its feet. “It’s more intelligent than the others.”

Armin looked down at the zombie as understanding dawned on him quickly followed by shame. He was supposed to be a genius, and he was the one asking stupid questions with obvious answers. The zombie was still obviously one of the undead, but it wasn’t a normal one. Armin thought back and realized that the way that it had attempted to evade Erwin’s attack hadn’t been just a clumsy and lucky mishap. It had been too coordinated and deliberate to just be chance.

“Hange is going to be happy,” Mike muttered. He sounded as though the thought made him sick. Armin could see why; the woman was crazy, and giving her a test subject…he could already imagine the raving that was about to happen, and Armin had just met her. He could scarcely imagine how someone that had known her for longer would feel about it.

“Come on,” Erwin muttered. “We’ll finish clearing out this house.” He looked at Armin with a kind smile. “Can you go and find another veteran scout? Tell them that I need something moved and lead them back to this house.”

“Yes, sir,” Armin nodded before he walked out of the house. He wouldn’t complain about rushing back and forth, if it meant that he wouldn’t have to look at that creepy monster than was still writhing around on the floor.

Levi was walking down the porch of a house a few yards down from him. He had two boxes, one stacked on top of the other, in his arms as he went. His face still had that mask of complete apathy that Armin had always seen him with. It made him want to wait until he’d seen another veteran, but Erwin had given him an order. He sighed, and sucked up all of his courage as he ran toward the shorter man. “Excuse me, Mr. Levi!”

“Just call me Levi,” the man grunted. “And take one of these boxes.” Armin complied willingly, but winced at all of the weight that suddenly found itself in his arms. How was the small man so strong? He walked after Levi, who had begun walking toward one of the vans in the road. “What is it that you wanted?”

“The Commander told me to come and find a veteran. He said that he wanted help lifting something up,” Armin recited what Erwin had told him to say, wincing at how pathetic it made him sound when one didn’t know the context.

“Tch,” Levi sounded. He turned around and frowned at Armin as he sat the box in the van and gestured for him to do the same. “You seem strong enough to me, but whatever. You’re friends with that Jaeger kid, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Armin said hurriedly, fighting off the urge to freeze at the implications that sentence alone carried.

“Good,” Levi nodded his approval. “Go into the house that I just came out of and talk some sense into that idiot.” His face contorted into a slightly scowl as he spoke. Armin wondered what Eren could have done to earn a look like that from the ever-apathetic Levi.

“Yes, Levi,” Armin told him before hurriedly turning around and running into the house that Levi had just come from. He could do diplomacy. That was something that he excelled at. Hopefully it was that the Scout Regiment needed, because he didn’t know if he was cut out for anything else. He made it into the living room and saw movement in the kitchen along with the sound of muttering. He was willing to bet that it was Eren and another recruit talking trash about Levi.

“Eren?” Armin called, not wanting to startle them by walking up behind them. That was an easy way to get hurt or killed. He then walked into the kitchen and the sight that he saw was one from numerous nightmares that he’d had after Eren had told him that he was going to be joining the scouting group. Bodies were everywhere, blood spattered in all directions and on the hands of the two boys that were currently turned around to look at him.

Eren smiled at him before it quickly turned to a look of uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”

“Levi told me to come in here and talk to you,” Armin told him simply. There was no point in hiding the truth, though he still didn’t know what Eren had done. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the five bodies strewn across the floor, making the house look like a murder scene.

Uncertainty immediately turned into an angry scowl as he looked away from Armin and down to the bodies. “There’s nothing to talk about,” Eren snapped. “He’s being unreasonable. He wanted us to leave that closet alone, and all of those Titans were inside. We’re supposed to kill these creatures! We needed supplies, and what if another group came along and opened the doors? They might not have been as skilled as we are and would have died!”

“Levi told you that for a reason,” Armin told Eren calmly. He crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to back down to his best friend, though that was exactly what he wanted to do. “Quit being unreasonable. We have a job to do, and if you’re not willing to listen while we’re out here, then you need to go back inside of the gates where you won’t endanger yourself or others!”

Eren looked as though he wanted to reply angrily, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. He closed his jaw a moment later, and Armin was still able to see anger bright in his eyes. He nodded his head, however and said, “Alright, Armin. I understand.”

Connie came out of the pantry a moment later with an armful of blankets. “If you’re quite finished lecturing him, Arlert. You mind giving us a hand?”

 

Erwin saw Levi walk through the door as he was looking through the cupboards. “What the fuck, Erwin?” Levi demanded. He was unsurprised by Levi’s reaction. He would be surprised too if there was a bound Titan rolling angrily around on the floor.

“A present for Hange,” Erwin replied calmly as he continued opening and closing the doors. There were a few cans on the countertops, but nothing else. This hounds hadn’t been very lucrative, other than the Titan. “We need to restrain her even more so that she’ll be able to ride with us.”

“You want that thing in a van?” Levi questioned. “Are you crazy?”

Erwin smiled at Levi and then continued on to the next cupboard, pulling out a can of cherry pie filling. “Yes, I want it in a van.” He walked around the countertop and into the living room again, looking at Levi seriously. “It’s not a normal Titan. It’s smarter, for some reason. It evaded me, and tried to stop itself from being captured. If Mike wouldn’t have gotten inside, it might have gotten away.”

“Where’s Mike now?” Levi questioned, looking around. The strange man was nowhere to be seen.

“I sent him back out to his groups to make sure that they weren’t all in disarray,” Erwin replied. He turned away from Levi and back to the zombie. “I want you to help me cart it outside and then find Hange. Her and Moblit can take it back to the base. There’s a shack outside of the walls that can hold it. We’ll find some restraints when we get there and help her hold it down so that she can experiment on it.”

Levi looked at him with a gaping mouth, and Erwin felt a foreign sense of amusement bubble at the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t every day that someone could catch Levi this unaware and make him speechless. He gave himself a mental pat on the back before turning back to work mode. Levi seemed to snap out of the shock, because his face turned back into that apathetic expression with the heavy-lidded eyes and downturned lips. “Whatever,” he muttered. “I can’t be here too long, though. I left those brats by themselves. I got Arlert to babysit them, but I’m afraid Jaeger’s stupidity might be contagious, and I don’t want your newest personal recruit to catch it.”

“I’m sure that everything will be alright,” Erwin said confidently. “All we have to do is find something to keep her from biting anything, and we’ll be set.”

“I don’t see why you don’t just rip off her jaw,” Levi mused. He looked over at Hange’s future victim with his head cocked to the side. His eyebrow rose when it started thrashing around more at the suggestion. “I see what you mean, Erwin.”

“I don’t want to tear its jaw off…yet,” Erwin replied. “I know that Hange’s going to want a completely fresh test subject, and we can’t alter it if we want the research to go correctly.”

“I don’t care what Hange wants,” Levi sighed.

Erwin looked at him sharply, not that it made a difference to the shorter man. He just rolled his eyes and said, “Yes, sir,” and walked to the back of the house, stepping over the writhing corpse without care as he moved. “I’ll find something. Can you go and keep an eye on my two idiots while I take care of this? They’re three houses to the right.”

“Very well,” Erwin nodded. “I’ll see you soon, then.”

He walked out of the house and moved toward the area that Levi had been charged with. As a form of confirmation that he was at the right spot, Armin walked out of the door of the house that he had been walking up to. His arms were filled with mountains of blankets. He looked up at Erwin with the most innocent blue eyes that he had ever seen, and Erwin just stared back for a moment, mesmerized.  He shook himself out of it a second later and smiled kindly at the younger man. “I see you have your hands full. I’ll let you get to it. Is there much else that needs to be taken out?”

“I’m not sure, sir,” Armin admitted. “I just grabbed what they handed me.”

Erwin nodded and gestured for Armin to move along. He walked up the porch and through the open doorway. He saw the other two, Jaeger and Springer, in the kitchen. Jaeger was grabbing different supplies and placing them into boxes while Springer was walking toward him holding a closed box with blankets piled on top of it so that the cargo was covering his face just below his eyes.

“Hello, Commander,” Springer said cheerfully. “Is there something wrong?”

“Not at all,” Erwin told him politely. “I’m just covering for Levi while he takes care of something for me.” He allowed Springer to walk past him as he made his way to Jaeger. Part of him was curious as to why Levi had called him an idiot. He knew that the boy wasn’t on Armin’s level of intelligence, but he figured that he wasn’t too stupid. Erwin just shrugged. He’d been wrong before. He looked down at the ground as he walked into the kitchen and saw several bodies strewn on the linoleum. He had a feeling that this had something to do with Levi’s anger toward him. “What happened here?” Erwin questioned.

“Ah,” Eren said, looking up at Erwin with reddened cheeks. He scratched the back of his head almost sheepishly and sighed. “The Titans were in the pantry. We had to clear them out before we could get inside.” He looked down and let out a small sigh. “I imagine Levi already told you about it?”

“No,” Erwin replied. “He did inform me that you were an idiot. Is this part of the reason?”

“Y-yes sir,” Eren admitted. “He told me that it was too dangerous to do, and that we should just leave it alone. I didn’t want to push our jobs on other people, and there was a chance that someone less capable than us could stumble across it later on, and be killed because of it.”

“That’s admirable of you,” Erwin told him. He meant it. It was hard to find someone that did something out of the good of their heart. Even before the world ended, it was rare for someone to just go out of their way to be kind, but in a kill-or-be-killed type of world that they had been subjected to, it was impossible. “I mean that, but Levi is your superior. You need to listen to him while you’re still a recruit. He’s the man that is going to keep you alive. I know that he can be hard to handle at times, but he’s had to struggle a lot longer than two years to live. He knows what he’s doing. Just remember that.”

Eren straightened as he looked Erwin in the eyes. Respect showed there, something that always made Erwin feel better when he was talking to new people. It meant that they had honestly listened to what he told them and were taking it to heart. “Yes, sir.”

He heard footsteps and knew that the others were coming back to carry more goods out. “That’s good, then. Let’s get the rest of this carried out.”

He leaned down and grabbed an armful of blankets and turned, walking out of the door. He knew that doing the same thing that the others were doing was the right choice. Most leaders would see this as weak, and lowering himself, but he didn’t. He saw it as showing the people that worked under him that he was the same as them. He knew that it would earn their respect more than simply standing around and supervising others doing backbreaking work.

 

“Hange,” Erwin called. He saw the eccentric woman walking toward the vans with a large bag over one shoulder. Moblit was next to her with a tired expression on his face. The poor man was probably exhausted keeping his brunette superior on a leash. The woman was brilliant, but she was definitely a handful. Hange grinned at him as she walked over, her eyes wide behind her glasses, as though she’d had a few too many cups of coffee. Erwin might have suspected it if he didn’t know that she was like this all the time.

“Erwin,” she sighed as she plopped the bag down in the trunk of the van. “How is your team doing? The most mine found were a few cans of vegetables and a closet full of pink, frilly sweaters.” She looked at Erwin with narrowed eyes and then grinned. “I think a few of them might fit you. I’m not sure if pink would be your color, though.”

“Focus, Hange,” Erwin scolded patiently. He knew that asking Hange to latch on to one subject was an almost impossible request, but he also knew that she was capable of it if she tried hard enough. “I have something that I want you to look at.”

Hange looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. Her smile seemed to stretch even more as she looked around. “What is it? Did someone get bit? You want me to amputate the appendage? Or is it too late? What did you—”

“Test subject,” Erwin cut her off with the two words that he knew would completely halt her thought processes. He placed his hands on both of her shoulders and leaned her back slightly so that she could look at him fully. “I have a test subject for you. Arlert and I came across a Titan that wasn’t acting normal. Do you think that you could look at it and possibly pinpoint what’s different about it?” Erwin wasn’t a genius, but if there was hope for a cure, maybe this creature would put them on the right track.

“Erwin!” Hange cried. “This is the single kindest thing you’ve ever done for me!”

Erwin remained silent, choosing not to think about all of the times that they had went out and he’d saved her from a zombie attack. He knew, with a certain amount of amusement, that this was more precious to Hange than saving her life. It was one of the reasons why he was so reluctant to let her have subjects. He knew that she was unstable at the best of times. He didn’t want to bring out her fully crazy side, and he had a feeling that this was going to encourage it. He comforted himself with the knowledge that there was a possibility that this could benefit the sad remains of humanity.

Suddenly Hange was hugging him. Erwin froze, unused to the contact and a bit unnerved by it. After a moment, though, warmth spread through him. He smiled fractionally and wrapped his arms around her, returning the gesture. Hange tore away from him a heartbeat later, a frown on her face. “Did you only catch that Titan?”

“Yes,” Erwin said. “I figured that would be enough.”

“Of course it’s not enough!” Hange exclaimed. “Am I the only scientist here?”

“Yes,” Moblit replied wearily. “Calm down, Hange. Explain yourself before you get too worked up. Remember what happened the last time?”

Hange looked over at him with a pout. “Mike only got scratched,” she told him. “Why do you have to keep bringing it up?”

“Hange,” Erwin called, bringing her attention back to him. “Explain.”

“Oh,” Hange said, nodding her head. “Right. I need a normal Titan to compare it to! Have you ever heard of a control variable? I won’t know how it’s different from the other Titans without knowing about them. Understand?”

“Yes,” Erwin sighed. “I guess we’ll have to apprehend a _normal Titan_ as you call it. It won’t be today, though. Levi’s got the creature in the house over there,” Erwin pointed to the red brick house that he and Armin had originally gone into. Go and help him get it to a van and head back to the base with a couple of members from the recruits. The other three squads will be back soon. Tell Pixis that I told you to use the old shed outside of the community to house the creature. Find something to restrain it with, and make sure that it’s properly contained.  We’ll worry about everything else a bit later, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” Hange said excitedly. Erwin had no idea if she had actually heard any of his instructions, so he looked behind her to Moblit, who was also nodding in understanding. He then motioned for them to get a move on, knowing that it would be carried out like he’d instructed. Moblit would make certain that Hange didn’t get too carried away while Erwin wasn’t there. He always did.

 

“Hey, guys,” Connie called as he walked up to Armin and Eren. They were sitting on the sidewalk, exhausted. They’d both finished all of the work that had been assigned to them, and Levi and Erwin had both told them to sit down and take a breather. They had been resting for maybe ten minutes before the short man had walked up with a grin on his face. “You’ll never guess what Jean and Marco just found!”

“What?” Eren inquired. His voice was guarded but still curious. Armin knew that he disliked Jean. It wasn’t an intense hate, but they’d had more than a few brawls during training, and their disagreements hadn’t vanished with their graduation.

“Chocolate!” Connie told them. He showed them a handful of mixed miniature chocolate bars. Armin caught sight of a Twix and a Snickers before Connie closed his fist again. “I lifted these off the van before Levi noticed anything.”

“Let me get one,” Eren said, pushing himself to his feet. He had a light in his eye that hadn’t been there before, and Armin wondered if he would actually fight Connie for the sweet. Thankfully, he didn’t have to find out, because Connie sighed and handed him a bar of the chocolate.

“Don’t tell Sasha,” Connie warned them quietly. “You know how she is. I don’t want to be punished for this, and if she finds out, everyone’s going to know something’s up because she gets too damn excited.”

“I can live with that,” Eren sighed as he peeled open the bar and looked at it with so much longing that Armin figured it was the same face that he would treat a long-lost lover with. He looked over at Armin with an almost sad expression as he asked, “Do you want some?”

The question warmed Armin’s heart. The knowledge alone that Eren would be willing to part with some of his beloved chocolate was enough for him. Armin just shook his head and smiled at Eren weakly. “I’m fine. I had enough to eat this morning. You enjoy it.”

“Are you sure?” Eren asked weakly.

“Yes,” Armin replied. “Eat up.”

“No problem,” Eren assured him as he practically inhaled the delicacy. The look on his face afterward made it seem like he was in heaven. His eyes shut and an obscene sound came from the back of his throat. “Oh, god! That’s so good!”

“Shut up!” Connie snapped. He looked around nervously, and Armin had to fight back the urge to laugh. The man had some strange quirks about him. Armin noticed Sasha walking toward them, a small and tired smile on her face. He waved at her cheerily, more as a heads-up to Connie than anything else.  He spun around to face the person in question and his shoulders slumped, probably in relief that Sasha was too tired to suspect anything.

“Mind if I join you, Armin?” Sasha asked, not bothering to wait for an answer. She just plopped down next to him and slumped over, laying her head on his shoulder. Armin tensed slightly before just mentally shrugging. Sasha was a strange person. He should be used to it after the six months that they spent together. “I’m so tired,” Sasha whined. “There was so much work and so much heavy-lifting. I could use a snack, but they told me that I couldn’t take any of the treats that were found for myself.” She made a pouting whine in the back of her throat. “They threatened me with guard duty, and it’s too cold outside for me to be stuck out on the wall all night!”

Armin looked over at Connie, who was looking at Sasha with a guilty expression. He knew what was coming before it happened, and he winced in expectation. “Sasha,” Connie sighed. “Let’s make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” Sasha asked, her voice still faint and whiney. It was clear that she was too depressed to be interested, though Armin had a feeling that her attitude would change in a moment.

“If you promise to not make any noise…any at all, and keep your mouth shut about it, I’ll give you some chocolate.”

Sasha tensed. Armin had a feeling that she was about to shout out in joy. Much to his surprise, she just inhaled sharply before letting the breath out slowly and taking in a deep one, calming herself down. “Deal,” she murmured. She held out her hand, which was shaking slightly. Armin turned to look at her face and the grin on her lips was so bright that it almost hurt to look at. She made a silent excited gesture that was obviously some sort of squeal. She looked at Connie with pure adoration that made the subject of her gaze flush slightly. She shoved the chocolate bar into her mouth and made a happy noise in the back of her throat. Her eyes closed and she sighed, leaning back on to the sidewalk with a small smile on her face. “I could kiss you, Connie.”

Silence went through the group for a few seconds, and Armin could feel the tension in the air. Sasha, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Connie’s cheeks were even redder than before. “Oi, brats,” Levi called a few heartbeats later. It was as though he knew that they needed something to break the tense silence, though Armin seriously doubted that the man would have cared. “I want Connie, Sasha and Ymir with Hange and Moblit. They might need some assistance.”

“What do they need help with?” Sasha questioned.

“Don’t question me,” Levi scolded. “Just do what I told you.”

“Fine,” Connie sighed. He turned around and stalked toward Hange, who was practically shaking near the van at the very end of the line. Moblit was standing next to her with his head lowered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Sasha stood up, a large smiled still plastered to her face as she skipped off toward Connie. It was a look that Armin figured meant that if Connie told her to walk toward a group of Titans unarmed, she would do so with a smile on her face. He shook his head slightly. The thought of being able to buy someone’s loyalty with just a little bit of food was a hard one for him to grasp.

“You two,” Levi said shortly, looking down at both him and Eren. “Get up and get ready to move out. You’re going to be a part of mine and Erwin’s squads. Don’t get in the way or slow us down.”

“He’s such an asshole,” Eren muttered as Levi walked off. The shorter man stiffened, as though he had heard what Eren told him, and Armin froze with wide eyes, worried that there was about to be a full-on confrontation. Levi just kept going, however, not seeming to be worried about anything at all.

“You can’t say things like that,” Armin scolded him with a frown. He stood up and stretched before he and Eren followed Levi slowly. Armin took care to stay far enough behind him that the man wouldn’t be able to hear them whispering, but he still felt weary anyway. “We’re supposed to be a unit, Eren! We have to work together. Can’t you at least try and get along with him?”

“I will when he decides to start treating others like people,” Eren told Armin stubbornly. “I’m just saying that if he wants to be an asshole, I’m capable of being one too.”

Armin remained silent. He figured that agreeing with Eren wasn’t the best way to keep peace between them. He just pinched the bridge of his nose, imitating the face that Moblit had made a few minutes earlier in regards to the eccentric Hange. He was starting to understand how the poor man felt, and couldn’t help but feel bad for him…not that Armin’s situation was turning out much better. He knew that he’d decided to join the Scouting Regiment ultimately because he knew that it was the place that he was going to be able to do the most for humanity, but there was a part of him that knew he’d also joined because he wanted to be able to keep a close eye on Eren. His friend didn’t mean to cause trouble, but he was a magnet for it, and his attitude didn’t make his situations any better. Eren meant well, but when he was caught up in something, everything around him just turned into minor details, and he completely forgot about the bigger picture, whatever it is at the time. Armin knew that Eren needed him there to remind him and pull him toward the right path when Eren lost his way too much. He just prayed that he would be able to do more than babysit Eren during some of his more idiotic tantrums while they were both still alive.

They both came up to the vans and saw that both Erwin and Levi were standing at the front with the rest of the scouts. “A few of the others are going back to the base,” Erwin called as they got closer. “That doesn’t mean that our mission is finished. We’re still heading toward our target destination. We still need to train the new recruits. All of them did well here, and no one got hurt. I congratulate all of you. We’ll be moving out in five minutes, so get ready to—”

_**BOOM!** _

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot went off in the air. Silence rang through the crowd as everyone turned toward the houses, looking in the quadrant that Mike’s group had been scouting through. No one in the Scouting Regiment carried firearms since it wouldn’t kill the Titans. Who had shot the guns? Armin felt his chest constrict in fear. The noise was bound to have drawn out the creatures that everyone had been trying to avoid alerting. “Retreat to the vans.” Erwin shouted. “Levi! Take two scouts with you to figure out what the cause of the noise was and get the rest of Mike’s people out of there before we’re overrun!”

“Yes, sir,” Levi muttered. He pushed himself off the hood that he had been leaning on and walked purposefully toward Mikes quadrant, gesturing to his side to get two of the scouts to follow him. They hurriedly did so without complaint. Armin and Eren both watched them walk off before they were ushered into the vans. Armin still couldn’t take his eyes off the source of the noise. A burning feeling of dread welled in his stomach, and he suddenly knew that this day wasn’t going to be as simple as what Erwin made it out to be.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi investigates a gunshot and the Scout Regiment goes to a small town to collect food. Eren and his group runs into some unexpected trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all that have read. You have no idea how much the thought of people actually reading this makes me smile. I was worried that no one would be interested in the story line with it being such a large fandom. If you have anything that you would like to see or point out, feel free to comment before you go!

He’d called two scouts that he didn’t even know the names of to help him. He didn’t bother glancing at their faces, knowing that there was a good chance that they were going to die. This was a dangerous job, and it was about to get a lot more threatening. That gunshot had echoed, and was audible for a good distance in every direction. It would bring the Titans on them like a moth to flame; it was only a matter of time. As soon as he figured out who’d shot that gun, he was going to gut them and leave them out for Titans to feed off of…heck he might even be kind enough to pick the Titans off one by one while they were feeding off the idiot, only so more of the creatures could feast on them for their stupidity.

He shook himself out of his anger, and just kept moving toward the spot that he’d pinned the noise to have come from. Being pissed would only make him sloppy. The gun had already been shot, so here was nothing that anger would solve. He would just have to find the problem and fix it before something else happened and everyone was put into a worse situation than they already were. He sighed as he walked through an open doorway. He heard the high-pitched noise of a girl screaming and followed it. One of the scouts rushed past him, a woman, and brought the girl into a comforting embrace. It didn’t do much to help the girl, and as soon as Levi stepped into the room that the girl was in, he saw why. A small wall had been blocking off his vision of everything up the girl, and as soon as he was past that, he saw a headless body lying on the floor.  Blood and brain matter was splattered everywhere and a Titan was leaned over the corpse, pulling fleshy chunks out of its stomach.

Levi clenched his teeth together and closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best not to break out of his composed façade as he realized what’d happened. The Titan must have bit the scout on a place that wasn’t going to be able to be amputated, and he’d committed suicide instead of turning into one of those creatures. Levi could understand dreading becoming one of those monsters, but why would the man blow his brains out in front of a comrade with a _gun,_ of all things? This one idiot had surely killed a few of the scouts by doing this, and had probably left the rest of the regiment in for a long and hard day.

“Get her out of here,” Levi snapped at the woman scout.

“What the hell’s going on?” Furlan’s voice sounded from behind him. He turned around and saw his old friend standing in the doorway with wide eyes. “Titans are starting to show up. I had to kill like three of them to get into the damned house. Who shot the…” He trailed off as he walked up and saw the body. Levi scowled and walked over to the Titan, who was too preoccupied eating to really pay them any attention. He kicked it with his boot and sent it flying.

“Do humans taste good?” Levi asked it scathingly as he brought his blades out of the sheathes on his hips. The corpse tried to get back up, but Levi kicked it again, dodging out of the way of a clumsy swing and jumping over the Titan so that he could kick it on to its stomach. He placed his foot on its back, in between its shoulders. “Do they?”

“I don’t think it’s going to answer your question,” Furlan told him impatiently. Levi just looked over at his friend and rolled his eyes before he leaned down and slit its neck open, taking the chunk of meat from the back that would permanently kill it. He then proceeded to stomp on its head, smashing it in. He felt more than just a little resentful that the stupid creature had caused them so much trouble. “Come on,” Furlan told him. “We need to go.”

“I’ve got to warn the others in Mike’s group,” Levi told him. “You go ahead back to the vans.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Furlan told him, rolling his eyes at Levi. “I’m going to help you.”

“Don’t you know that you’re supposed to listen to your superiors?” Levi asked Furlan, even as he was walking toward his friend and the other scout. “Don’t be a brat.”

“I’m your friend and we stick together,” Furlan told him. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Levi scowled at his friend, remembering what he’d heard Jaeger say earlier. Was he really that much of an asshole? He pushed that thought process away. He didn’t have time to be wondering about stupid things, he had a job to do, and it sounded like he had a short limit of when to complete it. He rushed down the steps and saw that a few zombies were in the streets. It wasn’t an overwhelming amount, but it was enough that it was going to take a few minutes to clear them out. He saw Erwin and a few more of the veterans were doing exactly that as Mike’s squad were rushing back into the streets to lend a hand. Apparently, the sound of the gunshot had been enough to rouse them all and bring them from where they had been searching.

He moved forward, pulling his blades out again and slashed the first Titan that he came in contact with, taking the chunk of skin out of its neck with ease, and was on the second one before his first victim had even hit the ground. “We could just keep killing them, Erwin,” Levi called impatiently, “but there’s just going to be more of them showing up!” He turned to look at his boss angrily, and saw something that caused his blood to boil. “Oi, brat! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Eren Jaeger was out of the van and was fighting the Titans like he hadn’t been ordered to wait inside of the vans with the rest of the recruits. Levi had to respect him for his bravery, but annoyance overshadowed his admiration. If the idiot got hurt, then it was on the shoulders of the rest of the scouts. He didn’t feel like answering to anyone else about this.

“Calm down,” Furlan told Levi with a lazy shrug of his shoulders as he moved in to intercept a group of Titans almost effortlessly. “If the idiot wants to die, who are we to stop him?”

That was Levi’s problem; he knew that people died often in the Scout Regiment. It wasn’t exactly the most sought after job, and god knows that he wasn’t interested in it when Erwin had first approached him about it, but people did join. Not many, but some people. They needed to keep the idiots that did join alive long enough to shape them into something that wasn’t as stupid. Eren Jaeger was talented, for lack of a better word, but he was a lot dumber than most of his fellow recruits. Levi had a feeling about this one, and didn’t want him to die before he could figure out what the feeling meant.

Levi groaned as he saw that Eren wasn’t the only one of the recruits that was out. He didn’t think there were any of them left in the damn car. They were all out in the streets, slashing at the Titans. Even Arlert, Erwin’s prodigy, was out. Levi had a feeling that he was there trying his best to keep Eren from being killed. Good friend, but that tendency to look out for others before himself wasn’t going to lengthen his lifespan by far.

“Okay,” Furlan conceded. “I guess he’s not the only idiot.” Their area had been cleared out for the moment, and Levi knew that it was their time to act. He looked over at Furlan, who had come to stand next to him. He grimaced at his friend, who was covered in blood, and took a step away from him. Furlan saw the act and rolled his eyes knowingly. The asshole had known what he was doing to Levi had had done it anyway. Disgusting.

“Come on,” Levi muttered. “Just being in the filthy place is getting me dirty.” He got a better grip on the handles of his knives hand moved forward, slicing flesh when he got to it, moving toward the van. He grimaced when the mouth of a Titan got a bit too close to his flesh, and some of the blood from its face transferred to Levi’s arm. Before he could retaliate, Furlan was there, slashing a bit of flesh from the back of its neck. “Erwin,” Levi hissed once he was near enough to the man to speak without being overheard. “We need to get the hell out of here! Get the recruits back in the car!”

Erwin blinked and turned around. His blue eyes widened at the sight of all of their recruits out, cutting and slashing at the undead as well. “Get back in that van!” Erwin thundered. The loud noise made Levi’s ears ring. He winced slightly, but still moved to intercept a Titan before it could make it to Erwin’s arm. He moved toward the van, cutting down the undead so that the recruits could get inside. He saw that the rest of the veterans were slowly making their way to the vehicles. Erwin nodded at him, and motioned toward the van that he was next to. He knew that it was a signal to get in as well, but Levi hesitated. He didn’t want to leave others out here when he knew that he could have protected them, but he figured that was probably what those idiotic recruits were thinking too. He sighed as he turned around and opened the passenger’s door. Furlan was next to him, flinging open the back seat and jumping inside. He would rely on the skills of his comrades for the moment. Oluo was in the driver’s seat and was about to take off when Erwin gestured for him to stop. Levi saw him cut a zombie’s head cleanly off its shoulders before he opened the door and dove inside.

“Everyone is in. It’s getting worse. Get the hell out of here before we can’t.”

Oluo didn’t have to be convinced, he turned the van on and stomped the gas. Levi heard the engine purring before the van had even moved. The wheels spun before they gained traction and the vehicle went forward. Oluo tried his best to weave around the undead, knowing that running them over could murder a car, but some of them were impossible to miss. None of them went underneath, thankfully. They just clipped to the left or the right, spattering blood all over the exterior. Levi grimaced in disgust, looking at anything but the windows. He wasn’t squeamish, but he hated for anything to be dirty, and he knew that the glass would be covered in grime.

As soon as they were back on the street, Oluo pressed even harder on the gas, and they zoomed down the infested road. Levi looked in the mirror and saw that the others were pulling out as well. “We need to stop somewhere safe,” Levi told Erwin. “Everyone has to be shaken, and we need to sort out the causalities. I know not everyone made it out, and I don’t see the rest of the people from my squad.”

“Petra and Eld are fine,” Furlan called from behind him. “I saw those two hopping in the van behind us. “I haven’t seen Gunther, though.”

“Thanks,” Levi said quietly. At least he knew that three out of the four of them were alright.

“Hange made it out, right?” Eren’s voice carried through the van. Levi grit his teeth at the sound. He didn’t hate him, but it was hard to warm up to the noise when the only interaction that he’d had with the dumbass had resulted in him trying to get himself killed.

“Yes,” Erwin told Eren. Levi turned around and saw a sight that he was certain that he’d never saw before. The commander was sitting on the floor of the van with his long legs pulled up to his chest. The man looked more like a child than he had ever seen him before. If it bothered Erwin, he never mentioned it. He just sat quietly, turning to look at Eren, who was all the way in the back. “They’d cleared the subdivision before the shot was fired.”

Levi remembered that Connie Springer, Sasha Braus and Ymir had accompanied Hange and Moblit. Eren would be concerned about his comrades. Levi felt a smidgen of respect fill him at the question. At least Eren cared about others. That was one step up from the impression that he’d gotten from him earlier.

 

Eren was silent for the remainder of the ride after he’d inquired about Hange. Erwin told Furlan to wave his hand out the window and gesture to a small turnoff. A few minutes later, the van arrived at a gated in building. Eren realized that it was a motel. “We took the liberty of creating bases farther out from the town,” Furlan explained to them as he opened the door and stood up. The poor man had been cramped on the ground. He sighed and stretched his arms over his head. Eren heard a few pops and cracks from his joints and raised an eyebrow. That must have been an extremely uncomfortable ride for him. He sighed as he walked up to the gate and turned around to look at the rest of them, who were still getting out of the car. Eren and Armin stood back a few feet, not wanting to get in anyone’s way. Erwin walked up and grabbed a set of keys out of his pocket. Eren realized that the gate was padlocked. A moment later the sound of a chain hitting the dirt was heard before the creak of slightly rusted hinges. The door opened and everyone was rushing inside.

“Everyone get into your squads!” Erwin called loudly. “Recruits form a group!”

The gate was locked on the inside this time and everyone moved to do as the commander ordered. Eren found himself standing next to Armin and Marco Bott, a tall boy with pale skin, freckles across his cheeks, and slightly spiked brown hair. He was a nice guy with a warm smile that would light up anyone’s day that was feeling down. Eren wished that Marco’s best friend, Jean Kirsten was the same way.

“Alright,” Erwin said. “Squad leaders…take a look around and determine who’s all missing!”

Erwin walked up to the recruits first, and looked around. He stared at Armin, who looked back with wide, worried eyes. “Arlert,” he said after a moment, “is anyone from your group not here?”

“Just Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse and Ymir, sir,” Armin replied quickly. Eren saw him look away from Erwin for a moment and look down their line, as if to ensure that he was correct. “They were sent out with Hange and Moblit to aid them back at the base."

"Good," Erwin said, nodding in his approval at Armin's answer. He turned around and walked off without another word. He went to talk to the one group that was standing around without a squad leader. Eren figured that it was Hange's group. That woman was crazy, and he could tell that her entire squad must have thought so just by the tired looks on their faces. Erwin began talking to a man with shaggy brown hair. He stepped forward and gestured behind him. Erwin placed a hand on his shoulder and said something else. Eren might not have been able to hear what was being said, but he got the gist of it. At least a couple of people from that squad had been killed. Erwin nodded and the man stepped back into line as both Levi and Mike walked up to him.

Levi crossed his arms over his chest as he shook his head at something that Erwin said and then he could have sworn that Erwin told him that he was sorry. Eren remembered that Levi had mentioned not seeing Gunther move into a vehicle before they had left. Eren had a feeling that the man hadn't been aboard. He grimaced at the thought of his corpse still being at the subdivision, being picked apart by the beasts that had turned them into nothing more than cattle. Mike spoke to Erwin next and gestured toward his crowd. Eren noticed that his gesture was toward the black-haired woman that had been escorted from the house that Levi had gone into. Erwin nodded, and Eren figured that Mike had just divulged the name of the person that had fired off the gun.

"Alright," Erwin said a moment later. "This has been a long day already, and it’s just barely started. We're going to leave the supplies that we've retrieved here and move ahead into town. We're only down by five people. It's never good to lose a life during a run, but we always do." Erwin looked over at them, and Eren had a feeling that he was speaking for their sake, and not the sake of the veterans, who Eren was sure already knew all about the casualties. "This is a dangerous job, something I'm sure that you were all aware of when you signed up. The reason why we were overrun today was because a man was bitten, and found a gun in the house that he was searching. He committed suicide, and, in doing so, nearly got the rest of us killed. I will not divulge a name, but I beg that the rest of you will not be that selfish if something that bad happens to you." He looked at everyone and said, "Let's get these vans unpacked."

 

Levi was annoyed. He was annoyed because he was sad. He'd promised himself that he wasn't going to form any sort of sentimentality toward any of the soldiers under his command. He knew that doing that would only hurt when they died. That was what happened to the majority of the people that he got close to, anyway, they all died. The only two people that hadn't checked out on him were Furlan and Isabelle. Deep down inside, however, he was halfway expecting them to kick the bucket at any time. It was a cruel world; it had been that way since before the zombie apocalypse. The only thing that had changed was that the things that were out to hurt him were more open about their intentions.

Gunther hadn't made it out of the invasion. Petra had been with him, and he'd sacrificed himself to give her time to get out. She'd tearfully told him that he'd already been bit when he'd thrown himself at a group of Titans that had surprised them at the back of the house. Levi hadn't been very much help in the way of comfort. He'd just told her that she needed to focus on the job and not let him die in vain. She'd nodded, though tears had been still streaking her cheeks at the time. He'd felt like an asshole for telling her something so cold, but he didn't know what else to say to her, though. Oluo might have been a surly jerk, but he was still a pretty decent guy. He must have sensed that Levi was uncomfortable with Petra's tears, because he'd taken her to the side, escorting her away from Levi, with his arm around her shoulder. He said something lowly to her that had made the girl laugh.

Levi closed his eyes, sighing. He heard Erwin still standing behind him. The man laughed lowly, and Levi turned around to glare at him sharply. The laugh hadn't been filled with joy, but a dry one that spoke of insults. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're no good at comforting people," Erwin observed, shaking his head. "I can see why you're still single."

"Oh, really, Eyebrows?" Levi questioned as he raised one of his own. "I'm single because I couldn't find someone in the world that I didn't hate when there was a huge population. I know that there's no one around now that I'm going to warm up to with the lot that I have to choose from now. What's your excuse?"

"I'm the commander of the Scout Regiment," Erwin told him. "I don't have time for romance. Besides, I don't know how much longer that I'm going to be alive. It wouldn't be fair to anyone."

Levi scowled at the noble words that spilled from Erwin's mouth. He wanted to hate the man for them but couldn't. Erwin might have been a person that Levi wanted to hurt the majority of the time, but it was damn near impossible to dislike him. He was nice, polite, funny, and was without the big head that most people had when they're given a large amount of power. He couldn't even resent him for forcing him to enlist in this stupid Regiment. He'd done it for a good cause. He might not have given a damn about humanity's survival--they hadn't really cared about his--but Erwin did. He wasn't doing any of this for himself. Nothing that Erwin did was for himself, and that pissed Levi off. Everyone was selfish in one way or another, and the fact that Levi couldn't pinpoint exactly what made Erwin human made him weary. The blond was unreadable, and sometimes Levi wondered if he had any flaw.

"Sometimes I really hate you," Levi muttered. He shook his head and began walking toward the vans. "We can't let the recruits show us up, can we?"

"Certainly not," Erwin said, a small smile twitching in on the corners of his lips. Levi really did want to hate him, but it was as though the man had slowly wormed his way into Levi's heart. He didn't mind him so much anymore, and he figured that he really could have worse friends. At least he knew that Erwin would have his back...the man was too damn noble for anything else.

 

It was a while before they were back on the road. Levi and Erwin were in separate vehicles this time. Erwin was riding with his own squad, Mike was with his, and Levi had his around him. They’d divided the recruits up in between them. Levi had Jaeger, Braun and Hoover. Erwin had gotten Arlert, Leonhardt, and Ackerman, and Mike had gotten Kirsten, Bott, and Lens. Levi had personally requested Jaeger to be in his group. He was brilliant as a fighter, but the man was an idiot when it came to common sense. Levi figured that he didn’t mean anything by almost getting himself killed, but throwing caution to the wind and putting himself and others in danger twice within the expanse of fifteen minutes made Levi a bit weary. He didn’t trust anyone else to keep a proper leash on him.

He would go to Erwin immediately and tell the man that he didn’t think that the Scout Regiment was the right fit for Eren if he actually believed it was true. He was a great fit for the job…he just needed to learn his place. The idiot needed to learn how to listen. The other two that he had with him didn’t look like they were going to be a problem at all. Bertholdt Hoover was a quiet man with dark hair and olive toned skin. He was tall and had a friendly smile on his face at all times. Reiner Braun was exactly what his name would make someone imagine. He was a large, buff man with a broad face and large, defined jaw. His hair was a light blond and his skin was nowhere near as dark as Bertholdt’s. He wasn’t as quiet as Bertholdt was, but he never spoke out against a superior, as far as Levi could tell. He just spoke up when he thought that something was wrong, or when he thought that he could help someone that needed it. He seemed to be a pretty good guy, which something that could get you killed in this kind of world, but Levi wouldn’t complain about it, because it meant that he would only really have to keep an eye on Jaeger.

They came up to the town and Levi just looked out of the window with a bored expression. The place was a good spot to train the newbies. It had been scouted out maybe a month ago, but nothing had been touched. It was small, maybe two square miles. It would take a few hours to comb through everything and get all of the supplies. Most of the places were either stores or apartments, meaning that they would have to learn how to creep through buildings safely, and take out Titans without making any noise. It was something that the technique of was taught during their training, but nothing could prepare someone for the real thing, and the only way that a recruit was going to learn would be to do it themselves.

“Come on,” Levi said as they got out of the car. “We need to get going.” He looked back at the remaining people on his squad and at the three recruits that were with them, looking around with paranoia bright in their eyes. “Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt, you’re with me.” He looked at the other three members of his squad. “You three stick together,” Levi told him seriously. “Don’t get separated under any circumstances and watch each other’s backs. Meet me back here before sunset. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir!” the three of them cried out, causing Levi to grit his teeth. He hated the word _sir_. It made him feel old, and it made him feel as though there were people counting on him to not screw up. He wasn’t that much older than them. He was twenty-seven, and everyone that he worked with he saw as an equal; it was better looking at them from that angle so that he wouldn’t feel responsible for them when they eventually hurt themselves.

“How many times do I have to tell you idiots not to call me sir?” Levi asked them with a scowl. They all looked at him sheepishly, and Levi had a feeling that what he had told them hadn’t actually stuck. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Just go and do your damned jobs!”

He heard them snickering behind his back as he turned around. He rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. If it would make them laugh after what just happened to Gunther, then he would gladly allow it…not that he would tell them that. He looked at Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt. They were all looking at him expectantly. He just sighed and said, “Let’s go.” Without another word, he walked into the streets. It would be easier to use the cars to get the goods, but with the noise, it would be a lot more dangerous, and the recruits needed to know exactly what they could be signing up for, grunt work and all.

No one said anything as they followed him, much to Levi’s relief. He would believe that they were actually starting to take the work seriously if they would have been with anyone but him. He knew that he scared the recruits, and that was what was most likely making them silent…well everyone except for Jaeger. Levi turned around and pretended to look at the trio, instead he just focused on the one that was closest to him. He was brave, Levi would give him that. He’d never had anyone other than Erwin stand up to him like Eren did and not back down. As admirable as that was, he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He was leaning toward dislike, however, because it was annoying as hell. The stupid little brat needed to learn how to listen to his superiors when they told him to do something. If he didn’t, he was going to get himself killed.

“Where are we going?” Eren finally spoke up. Levi stopped and turned around to look at him. “Does it matter, Brat?”

“Yes,” Eren stated. “For all we know, you could be leading us to our deaths!”

“Do you not trust me?” Levi questioned, raising an eyebrow. He felt a vague tug of amusement in the pit of his stomach. This was going to be an interesting mission, if nothing else.

“What have you done to make me trust you?” Eren countered Levi’s question with one of his own.

“Tch. Whatever,” Levi muttered. “We were assigned to that store over there.” They were on a narrow street, crowded with buildings that were crammed next to each other with no space in between. At the end of the long street there was a lone store. The glass windows were still intact and the brick exterior was still in fair condition. It was an old family owned business, and it didn’t look as though it had been harmed during the total breakdown of civilization. He pointed it out to them and rolled his eyes. “Does it still look like I’m wasting my time by leading you to your deaths?”

“No, sir,” Levi heard Jaeger mutter. Levi could tell that he was supposed to hear it. He felt his lips twitch slightly. That stupid little brat thought that he was going to be able to get the better of him. Levi would show him.

“Why is it still in good condition?” Reiner asked.

“Connie Springer’s parents owned it,” Levi told him. “It was a small town, and they were very popular people. They didn’t sell anything that lowlifes wanted, and the people that lived around here respected them enough to leave it alone.” It was why he sent Connie off with Hange. He didn’t want him to be there when they finally had to wreck the store, the last thing that the world had to remember the Springers. He felt bad about the thought of it, but it was necessary.

They made it to the store, which sat on the other side of another road, creating a T. Levi looked both ways, checking for Titans instead of cars, before he crossed over. There were two of them shuffling to his right. Levi didn’t say anything to them, he just slinked away and moved to take care of the problem before the recruits could make larger problems for him. The two Titans sensed him as he moved toward him and both let out inhuman growls and moved toward him. Levi noticed that one of them was moving with a broken ankle. The bone was jutting out of the skin as it walked on the side of his foot. He felt a sympathetic pain in his own foot. He looked at them both in disgust as he quickly brought his knives out and put them both down.

He heard Bertholdt mutter, “I wish I could fight like that.”

Levi rolled his eyes. He knew that all of them would eventually be just as good as him. It all came with practice. “Come on, brats,” he told them. “Let’s go in and get the supplies.” He walked back over to the building and saw Reiner pushing on the door. It didn’t give. Levi sighed in frustration, though he wasn’t surprised. “Around back,” he ordered. The trio complied without any complaints and they moved to the back of the store and Levi saw exactly what he was looking for. A wooden door was standing proudly at the back, halfway covered by overgrown weeds that were slowly starting to wither away thanks to the cold weather that was setting in.

The back door was locked, just like the front, not that Levi was very surprised. He gestured for the three to stand back, and he kicked the door in, just like he had in the subdivision. He figured that if there had been any sort of electricity, an alarm would have gone off. Thankfully there wasn’t, so no noise broke into the air, alerting Titans to their location.

“You always looked for another way in,” Levi told them. He wasn’t crazy about the prospect of teaching them anything, but he figured that it was his duty to at least try and make sure that they didn’t get themselves killed in the process of learning. “You go for the way that you can make the least amount of noise. If not, then something is going to find you and kill you while your back is turned.”

They all nodded silently and Levi figured that they got his message well enough. He turned back around and walked through the door. It was dark, too dark to really make anything out, so he pulled out the small flashlight that he had in his pocket and clicked it on. He heard the others doing the same thing, and a moment later, Levi had no problem seeming anything at all.

“Keep your guards up,” Levi warned them as he slowly began walking farther into the room. They had scanned the area, but there was no promise to how safe each individual store or apartment was. For all Levi knew, the place could be crawling with the undead. He had no doubt that he could make it out alright, but he wasn’t too sure about the others. Part of Levi suspected that Eren was the type that was so spiteful that he would throw himself at an army of Titans if Levi told him to try and stay alive. “Don’t get separated.”

They didn’t answer him, and before Levi could all them out on it, he spotted a door. There were a few blood stains spattered on the wood, but other than that, nothing seemed especially wrong with it. Feeling a bit more relaxed by the almost harmless pathway, he walked forward and opened it. The door swung forward, causing a low creak in the quiet air.

The light outside shone through the window and allowed Levi to be able to peer into the store itself. Everything seemed to be clear as far as he could see. He walked through the threshold, and into more dangerous territory. Connie Springer’s parents never made it to the base, according to the short man’s report. Levi had a feeling that information, combined with the blood on the door, didn’t lead to a good situation for anyone involved. It also meant that they weren’t alone in the store.

“Candy,” he heard Reiner almost sigh. Levi turned around and saw the blond staring at the sweets aisle almost lovingly. He frowned and then mentally shrugged. Sweets weren’t something that anyone had a lot of these days, seeing as it wasn’t an absolute necessity.

“Go ahead,” Levi gave his consent almost grudgingly. He wouldn’t deny the man something that he had obviously missed so desperately. He wasn’t that much of an asshole. He frowned; when had he begun caring about how much of an asshole he was toward people. No one had ever given him any reason to be kind, and everyone around him more than likely held more stupidity than a human brain could possibly contain. There was no reason to try and be nice. He couldn’t help but think back to that brat’s words earlier that day. “Tch,” he sounded as he turned away from the trio that had all moved down the candy isle like a bunch of children at a toy shop.

“Do you want anything, Levi?” Eren’s voice carried across the store. Levi closed his eyes. He knew that the brat was only trying to be nice, but it was still enough to set his hair on end.

“Shut the hell up!” Levi hissed lowly. He looked around frantically, wondering if the creatures would decide to show their faces anytime soon. With Eren’s thoughtless outburst, Levi figured that they would show themselves to get their snack, which was kind enough to bring himself to them, and then point out his exact location.

He heard Eren mutter a curse under his breath and figured that he’d realized where he’d screwed up at. He still felt aggravation, though. If Eren wanted to live, then he was going to have to realize this stuff before it actually happened. He cocked his head to the side as the sound of something sliding against a dirty floor hit his ears faintly. He turned away from Eren and the others, but the noise only grew fainter. He felt his heart sinking deep into his chest as he realized where it was coming from.

“Watch out!” he yelled, but it was too late. He heard a growl before the sound of Bertholdt yelping in shock rang out and then the unmistakable noise of a large wooden object slamming against the ground. In other words, the aisle of sweets that they’d been examining fell over, causing a cloud of dirt and dust to explode everywhere.

Levi didn’t think; there wasn’t any time for thinking. He just ran forward, pulling out his knives as he moved. With a grunt of exertion, he jumped off the ground and on to the shelves without even changing pace. He made it to the guys a moment later and saw something that nearly made his heart stop. Two Titans were on two of the three men. Bertholdt was sprawled out on the isle, clearly half-conscious, while Eren and Reiner were trying to fend off the monsters. Reiner was a lot stronger than nearly anyone Levi had ever seen and was doing well in this fight, despite his surprise.

Eren was not so lucky. He was farther away from Levi, and had the corpse of an elderly man wrestling with him. He’d been a bit on the hefty side in life, and that hadn’t changed in death. Eren couldn’t get a good grip on him because his skin was slick with blood, probably Bertholdt’s. Levi moved forward, intent on helping out. He grabbed the Titan that Reiner was grappling with and flung her to the ground. He moved past the blond, confident that he wouldn’t have a problem taking it from there. He rushed forward, seeing that Eren was slowly losing his fight, being out weighted by the corpse that kept snapping his teeth inches away from Eren’s face. Levi lunged, his hand out to push the man aside, but he was too late.

He saw the man dive forward as the last of Eren’s strength gave out, and saw him sink his teeth in to the flesh on Eren’s shoulder. The man in question cried out loudly from the pain of it all and dropped to his knees. A look of pure fear entered his eyes for a moment, and Levi was afraid that he was just going to give up. Instead, he used his newest position to slice the back of the man’s neck, cutting out the necessary strip of meat that would kill him.

Eren fell back into a sitting position, breathing heavily as Levi came to an abrupt halt. He looked down at the man with wide eyes. His mouth was open, fighting for something to say, but he couldn’t think of anything. What was there for him to say? There was nothing that Eren could do. Levi didn’t have the necessary skills to amputate a shoulder, and by the time that he got Eren somewhere that would be able to, there would be no helping him. It was too late to do anything. Eren was going to die.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin's group responds to a distress signal that is more than Armin can handle.

Erwin was walking with the two girls and one boy that he’d received out of the group. He knew that all of them were talented in different ways, even though they might not realize it themselves. Mikasa Ackerman was a quiet girl of Asian descent. She had shoulder length black hair and a look of perpetual apathy on her face that could rival Levi himself. Despite her introverted ways, she was probably the trainee with the highest aptitude so far. He wasn’t entirely sure if that would have been a good thing for her before civilization had fallen to the apocalypse, but it certainly was a great thing now. Her skill rivaled that of some of the most hardened veterans on the teams. Annie Leonhardt was another quiet, introverted girl. She had blond hair and a very prominent nose. Her blue eyes seemed to be almost condescending as she looked at whatever was in her focus. She was a lethal cadet, and Erwin had seen her take down a good many Titans at their other stop. The last person was Armin Arlert. The boy was a certified genius. He might have been more delicate than the majority of the other trainees, but his mind was sharp and fast. It made him a lot more dangerous than most people would give him credit for, which was a weapon in itself. Erwin felt confident in the fact that Armin would think on his feet and be a very valuable asset to the group. Only time would tell if he was right about them.

They’d made it to the apartment complex that Erwin had assigned to himself. A few other groups were in charge of the second and third floors, while his group had the ground. Sometimes it was good to be in charge. He was in one of the bedrooms, which looked as though it had been inhabited by a teenage boy, Erwin would have guessed somewhere between fifteen to seventeen. Posters of cars and videogames hung on the walls, and the drawers that held the boy’s clothes were half opened by sloppy storage skills that would have drove Levi into madness.

He grabbed a shirt. As he looked at it, an image of Armin popped into his head. He figured that these clothes might fit Armin’s skinny frame. He grabbed a few of them and walked out of the room, going toward the living room, where he’d assigned the boy. He saw a blond head of hair behind one of the large, fluffy chairs. He was on his hands and knees, fumbling around with something that Erwin couldn’t see. Erwin raised an eyebrow at this. He quickly walked forward, curiosity getting the best of him.

“My, Arlert, I had no idea that you played with dolls,” Erwin said with a small chuckle.

Armin jumped, clearly not realizing that Erwin had entered the room. He placed a hand over his heart as he turned to look at him. His blue eyes were wide and a faint flush came over his face. The color complimented his pale cheeks rather nicely. “I-I don’t, sir!” Armin cried almost indignantly. That, of course, didn’t explain the small Barbie dolls and the baby dolls that he’d been stuffing into a small trash bag. “There’s a small girl at the community, sir. She was crying about a lost doll a couple of days ago. H-her parents forgot to grab it from the campsite that they had been at before some of our scouts found them, sir. I figured that I could bring her back some so that she wouldn’t be so sad.”

“That’s very kind of you, Arlert,” Erwin told him. “Are you always like this? Thinking of others before yourself.”

Armin lowered his eyes to the ground as he slowly rose to his feet. “I figure that helping other people and doing good is what gives my life meaning, sir. I believe that other people are more important, and that you should always put them before you.” He looked back up at Erwin, his eyes even wider than before. “Is that wrong of me, sir?”

“Selflessness will end up getting you killed,” Erwin told him. “Being altruistic isn’t a bad thing, and I respect you for being that way. However, while we’re out here, you need to learn to think of yourself. I understand that we’re supposed to be brothers-in-arms, but you need to watch your own back first and foremost; there are going to be times where others aren’t going to be there to watch it for you, because they’re going to be watching out for themselves.” He smiled at Armin’s scared expression and shook his head. “There’s no need to worry, Arlert. No one is going to just watch you die if they can help it. Besides, I found something in the bedroom that I thought you might be interested in.”

“What is it, sir?” Armin inquired. Erwin held the shirts in front of him and said. “These look like they might be your size. I know that the ones that I’ve seen you in seem to be too big for you. Why don’t you go and look in there and pick up a few more that you can use? It’s a rarity to find something so convenient in this world.”

“Yes, sir,” Armin said excitedly. “Thank you, sir!”

Before Armin could move, there was a low _boom!_ It sounded like a muffled gunshot, and it wasn’t that far away. Erwin rushed to the window on the opposite side of the chair that Armin had been behind and pushed the curtains aside. He looked out of the glass and saw faded color down the street. It looked as though it was coming from the store that Levi had come from. Erwin frowned at this. If Levi had sent the signal, things must have been very bad. Erwin felt his breathing come to a halt when he remembered that Armin’s friend, Jaeger, had been in that group. He turned around and saw that Armin was staring past his shoulder at the green flare with wide eyes. The blond was smart; he knew exactly what that meant. Judging from the look of pure fear on his face, Erwin would say that he wasn’t taking the news very well.

“Drop everything,” Erwin told Armin. “We can come back when we’ve figured out what’s going on. Annie! Mikasa!”

Footsteps sounded, and a moment later, both girls were rushing up front to the living room. The stood straight, as though a rod was strapped to both of their backs. They both seemed to be apathetic, but Erwin was starting to be able to see the small movements on their faces that gave away their feelings.

“We all need to go,” Erwin told them. “Something’s wrong.” He didn’t bother waiting for them to respond. He didn’t have time for questions. He opened the front door and flew into the hallway, hearing the pattering footsteps of the recruits behind him. He quickly made it down the hallway and out of the front door. He saw a couple of the undead trailing along the road. Before he could even move to intercept them, both Annie and Mikasa ran forward and disposed of them. It was fine by Erwin, who just kept moving. All four of them jogged toward the store, making quick progress.

“What the hell’s going on?” Erwin questioned. He saw complete disarray behind the glass. Isles were down, and blood was spattered everywhere. There were four bodies lying on the ground, but it was too dim, and they were too far away for Erwin to be able to tell if he recognized them. He moved to around the back of the brick building, and that was when he realized that things weren’t as peaceful as they seemed.

Levi and Reiner Braun were both outside, fighting a small herd of Titans. While Levi fought with grace and precision, seeming to glide past the reach of the Titans and kill them fluidly, Reiner fought with brute force. There was nothing regal about the way that he moved. It was as though he was filled with an angry bloodlust and rage was the only thing that was keeping him going as he grabbed two zombies and manhandled them to the ground.

Erwin grabbed the closest one to him and brought it down, planting his knife into its neck and gouging out the flesh. He stood back up and reached for a second one, noticing that the number of zombies were steadily getting lower. He had to quickly dodge out of the way of a Titan’s outstretched hand and accidently collided with Reiner. He turned to look at Erwin before grunting and diving past him, taking yet another zombie down. Erwin felt his blood run cold as he realized that the creature had been close to ending his own life. He made a mental note to thank Reiner later as he looked back around.

Reiner had dispatched the last of the undead, leaving a bloody sea of dead bodies strewn around them.

“What’s happened?” Erwin demanded as he moved closer to Levi. The shorter man looked up at Erwin with a stiffened, almost angry jaw.

“Braun got his first taste of death and didn’t take it too well. He made too much noise and it attracted an army of them. I figured that I’d already lost one of the recruits, maybe two, I didn’t need all three of them to die.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance before he looked at the back door with furrowed brows. If Erwin didn’t know any better, he would say that Levi looked concerned. “Bertholdt hit his head on one of the isles when Titans surprised the three. He’s still breathing, but he’s not conscious. Eren…” Levi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly. “Eren was bit on the shoulder. It can’t be amputated by anyone here. Hell, I don’t know if it can be amputated at all. It’s almost too late already, anyway.”

Erwin heard quick, panicked breaths and then rapid footsteps. When he turned around, he saw Armin dashing inside the building. It was apparent that he’d heard what Levi had said. Erwin sighed, feeling a pang of regret in his chest as he gestured for Levi to go in as well. Erwin guessed he could go inside and look around to see exactly what the damage was. It was never a good day when someone died, but he’d become desensitized to death, becoming used to it quickly when it became an almost daily occurrence. For the first time in a while, he actually felt as though it was a real thing again.

Inside of the store, two extremely mangled corpses were laying in a pile off to the side. He looked at the pair of them for only a second before he focused on Armin. He was sitting next to Jaeger. His expression was pained, even though it was obvious that he was trying his best to hide it. Levi walked over and sat down on the fallen isle. He looked at the pair with an almost sorrowful expression before he sighed quietly and said, “You have two choices, Eren.”

“I know,” Eren said quietly. Erwin knew that Eren was an adult, but his voice sounded small, like a child’s, as though he was truly afraid. He couldn’t blame the man; looking death in the face wasn’t something that anyone would be able to do strongly.

“So, which will it be?” Levi asked. “Do you want me to do it now or later?”

“How can you ask that at a time like this?” Armin demanded. It was the loudest that Erwin had ever seen the boy. Armin was a normally meek and quiet person, but he blazed with anger so strongly that it made him blink hard, just to make sure that he was looking at the same person. “Do you know what just happened?” Armin sniffled and brought his arm up to wipe away the tears that were starting to stain his cheeks.

“That’s just how it is,” Levi said emotionlessly.

“Stop being so—”

“It’s okay, Armin,” Eren said. His voice sounded a little bit steadier as he turned to look at his friend. He gave Armin a small smile and said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Armin looked as though he wanted to badly to argue, but he kept his mouth shut. Erwin figured that it was to give his friend his dying wish. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Eren told Levi as he turned back around to look at the ever-stoic man. “Do it now so that I won’t.”

“No!” Armin cried. He stood up at the same time as Levi and stepped protectively in front of his friend. He looked as though he was going to fight to the death over this.

“Armin,” Erwin told the trainee quietly. “Move out of the way. We don’t have time—”

“Eren can still be valuable,” Armin said quickly. He turned to look at Erwin with pleading eyes that made his heart break slightly. “Don’t kill him yet, please. Let him live just a little bit longer. W-we can do what needs to be done before he can hurt anyone, alright?”

“Can you still walk?” Levi asked him. He looked at Eren, past Armin, with a small frown.

Eren looked up at Levi with a nod. “I think I can.” He looked back down at the floor for a moment before he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, though. I don’t want to hurt anyone. It’s not worth the risk.”

“You won’t,” Levi told him. “I promise that I’ll stop you before you hurt anybody. I won’t give you the chance.”

“How can you be sure?” Eren demanded. “I could—”

“I’ve never failed before,” Levi told him.

“Do it for you friends,” Erwin told Eren. “Don’t argue, please.”

Eren sighed and nodded. “Fine.” He gave Levi a pleading look. “Please don’t let me hurt anybody.”

Levi nodded. “Don’t worry. I give you my word.”

Eren smiled faintly and said, “Thank you.”

 

Armin felt his entire world crumbling around him. He was sure that the pure agony in his chest was going to kill him as surely as Eren was going to die before their ride back to the base. The thought of never being able to see his best friend again tore through him so harshly that he was sure that razors had managed to find a way into his chest and stomach and had started to cut at all of his organs. He felt as though he was going to be sick, and the only thing that was stopping him was Eren. He had to be brave for his best friend. He knew that Eren needed him now of all times. He knew that it was selfish to make him live these next precious minutes with the knowledge that he was going to die at any time, but he couldn’t watch Eren be executed by Levi when Armin knew that he still had more time left in him. That was the only thing that Armin could focus on. More time; Eren had more time.

“We still need to look through the rest of the store,” Levi told them. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, “There were more supplies in here than we originally thought. We’ll never be able to take all of this with us. We’re going to have to come back.”

Erwin nodded in understanding and said, “Leave the store, then. We can come back and do a run just for this place later.”

Armin felt a small bubble of indignation. Eren had been hurt because of this stupid store, and they weren’t even going to take anything out of it! Reiner pulled Bertholdt off the floor and slung him over his shoulder. Armin watched him trudge toward them, the large man dangling limply along with him. “He needs help,” Reiner told them. “I don’t know if it was a good idea to move him, but it’s too dangerous to just keep him here.”

“You’re right,” Armin told him. He looked over at Levi and Erwin. “Bertholdt needs someone with some sort of medicinal background to look him over. Hange is gone. Is there anyone else?”

“Petra,” Levi replied. “She has some experience.”

“Where is she at?” Reiner asked impatiently.

“She’s in the apartment complex across from the one that Erwin was inside of,” Levi told him. “We’ll all go.”

Armin looked over at Eren, and saw his friend gripping his shoulder as he got to his feet. He stumbled, almost falling back to the floor. Armin inhaled sharply, diving to catch him. Levi was there before he was and held Eren up firmly. Eren hissed and groaned. “Damn it; this hurts!”

“You had a chunk taken out of your shoulder, Jaeger,” Levi muttered to him. Armin could tell that it was an awkward positioning between the two of them due to the height gap. “It’s going to hurt.” Levi made a gesture toward Erwin, who moved toward him and grabbed Eren, supporting Armin’s friend with a lot less awkwardness. Levi shrugged his shoulders and his thin jacket slid down his arms. He grabbed his knife and cut the sleeve off. “I’m sorry about this ahead of time, but it’s going to slow down the bleeding before you get too weak.”

“What?” Eren demanded, his voice slurring slightly, most likely from a mixture of pain and exhaustion. Levi didn’t answer him. He just reached out and wrapped the cloth around Eren’s shoulder, tying it tightly around the wound. He yelled even more loudly than the first time. His hand clenched into a fist, turning his knuckles white. A small whimper came past his lips and Armin felt the urge to comfort him. He didn’t, though, unsure of what he would say. _Let them cause you this much pain. It’ll keep you alive for another hour._ It sounded bad, even in his head.

“Just kill me already,” Eren huffed. It tore at Armin’s heart to know that he was totally serious. “Please just end it. It hurts _so bad_! It’s not worth it…” he looked as though he was going to say more but he trailed off, breathing heavily.

Armin felt his eyes burning. He didn’t know if he was prepared for letting his friend die. Levi looked at him for a moment before he sighed. “Put him down, Erwin.” The blond looked at Levi with a small frown. “I’ll catch up with you guys in a few minutes. Just head to Petra without me. Bertholdt needs help.”

Armin wanted to refuse, but, when he looked at Eren, he couldn’t bring himself to. He just let out a shaky breath that sounded as though it was about to turn into a sob and turned around and walked out of the store without another word. His heart was crumbling as he moved. His eyes were starting to blur from unshed tears.

There was the sound of footsteps behind him. He whirled around and saw Erwin standing there. He had a frown on his face; there was no sympathy, only anger. “I know that he’s your friend, Arlert, but this isn’t something that anyone can control. He’s in a lot of pain, and he’s going to die anyway. Quit being selfish; put your head where it needs to be, and get yourself together.”

Armin looked at Erwin with wide eyes. He didn’t know what to say to the man. He felt indignation welling inside of him. Erwin didn’t know him; he had no idea what was going through his mind, and he didn’t appreciate the bastard’s nerve to tell him that he needed to pull himself together. He’d known Eren since early elementary school. They had been friends with each other when their entire grade shunned them as outcasts because of how outspoken Eren was, and how introverted Armin was. His wide stare immediately changed to anger as he snapped, “Yes, sir. I’ll just easily forget that my friend of over twelve years is about to be executed!” He pushed past Erwin and stalked toward the street; part of him hoped that a Titan would come out and attack him. He didn’t know if he would even fight back. At the moment, he didn’t really think that he had anything to live for anymore.

Armin felt the first hot tear trail rundown his cheek. He hated this life, and was sick of this world. It was as though he had been denied all happiness, and he was being punished for doing something horrible in his life that he didn’t even recall doing. What had he done to deserve this?

No. Armin wouldn’t die; not yet. He felt white hot anger starting to swell inside of his chest as he stalked down the road with purpose as opposed to the aimlessness that he had been moving with before. He wanted to feel titans break apart beneath his fingertips. He wanted to kill them so badly that he could almost taste the bloodlust that was starting to run through his body. He was shaking as he thought of how the monsters had taken his parents away from him, and now his best friend.

He made it back to the apartment complex that they had been at. He saw a couple of Titans lingering on the other side of the road. He unsheathed his blades and rushed toward them, determined to end them. He slashed through the first one’s neck, and before he could get to the second one, it grabbed him. He squirmed to get out of its grip. Before he could, however, Erwin was there, much to Armin’s displeasure, and killed it. The Titan fell to the ground while Armin was still in its arms, so he went down with it. He landed on top of the body with a grunt and screwed his eyes up.

“Are you hurt?” Erwin asked him. He knelt down and removed the arms from around Armin’s waist. Armin scrambled to his feet, ignoring the commander. Erwin quickly followed him back up. He felt Erwin’s hands on him a moment later and flinched. He wanted to take a step back, but the touch was almost comforting. He hung his head down, feeling despair take him all over again. “I was too tough on you,” Erwin told him quietly. “I…I know that you and Jaeger are close. I’m very sorry, Armin. He’s suffering, though. Do you want him to be in pain?”

Armin sniffled and shook his head. “No.”

“Alright. Come on, then. The others are already inside so Petra can look at Bertholdt. We can go ahead back into the other apartment and get some of the supplies loaded up. Today’s almost over.” He put an arm around Armin’s shoulders, and he leaned into the touch. “I completely understand if you don’t want to stay in the Scout Regiment after this. It’s been a horrible first run for you, and…and I understand.”

Armin just shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere.” He was going to use this hatred inside of him to kill as many of these bastards as he could before he was taken out by one of them himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you're all thinking "Why is this one so short?" Well, it's because over 7,000 words a chapter takes a ridiculously long time to write, well correctly (hopefully) anyway. Also, I figured that the place where it ends is a good spot. It'll leave you squirming slightly with unanswered questions. That's always fun, right? I hope you all enjoyed it, and thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi makes a discovery that may or may not be crucial to mankind's survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. I hope that you like the chapter! It was fun to write, though the ones in the future are even more so. Enjoy!

“Are you sure that this is what you want?” Levi asked Eren. He hated how bored Levi’s voice sounded. He wanted nothing more than to tell him to just speak with some emotion, just this one time. Eren was looking at the end of his life, and Levi sounded as though this was still a boring day in a boring, normal world that wasn’t just about death and suffering.

“Just make the pain stop,” Eren pleaded. He looked at Levi and saw that there was an expression that was slightly off of the normally neutral face that he gave. It was as though he regretted what was happening. Eren didn’t know what he was regretting. This wasn’t his fault. It was no one’s fault. Things like this happened all the time now. He wanted to tell Levi not to worry about anything, and that he didn’t blame him. He opened his mouth to tell him this, but no sounds came out. He just looked up at him almost pleadingly as a sharp pain went through his shoulder. He fell to the ground on to his good shoulder and cried out in pain. He didn’t know what was happening. It felt like his entire shoulder was on fire and all he wanted to do was die. Why wouldn’t Levi kill him already? Was he just some sort of sadistic bastard that enjoyed other people’s pain? That had to be the answer, because there was no other reason for someone to let anyone else suffer with this much agony.

He felt the pressure on his wound increasing and he shouted even louder. Levi’s hand came to his mouth a moment later and then they were almost nose to nose. Levi was glaring at him as he hissed, “Shut the hell up, Jaeger!” Despite his pain, Eren looked at Levi with wide eyes and nodded slowly. Even at death’s door, Levi was too scary to ignore. Levi looked at him harshly for another moment before he moved away from Eren and was back at his shoulder. The pain became almost unbearable, and he was certain that he was about to black out from it, then it backed off, becoming only a dull ache.

“What the hell?” Levi muttered. Eren figured that it was a rhetorical question; he was too busy reeling from the unexpected waves of pain that he’d just experienced to pay attention to even think of a coherent response. Eren inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. “Eren,” he muttered as he turned to look at him with a frown. “You’re healing.”

 

Levi looked at the wound. It was oozing a disgusting amount of pus, no doubt the infection that had been left by the Titan that had taken a chunk out of Eren’s flesh. His body wasn’t just rejecting the infection…it was kicking it out at the source. Levi looked at it in disbelief, trying to fight against his inner germaphobe that was demanding that he put some space in between him and Eren.

No wonder Eren had been in so much pain. The ooze was a lot thicker than his blood, and was slowly dripping out. The build-up had been putting pressure on the wound, probably causing an incredibly painful sting.

“Don’t be stupid,” Eren told him breathlessly. He turned his head toward Levi almost tiredly. “I was bitten. That doesn’t heal on anybody…just kill me, and please look after Armin.”

“I’m not killing you,” Levi told him firmly. He looked at Eren with another frown, unsure of what he was supposed to do. He wouldn’t execute a man that was obviously recovering, but he also didn’t think that Eren was in any shape to walk. He definitely couldn’t fight off the undead, and Levi knew that he would have to battle the Titans to get back to the vans. That was a given anywhere they went. Now he wished that he wouldn’t have told the others to go ahead of him. He figured that the others would either have an idea of what to do, or how to transport the obviously weakened Eren.

Levi was no Hange, but he could see the potential that Eren held for humanity. He needed to be protected until he could be looked at. Eren was right about not healing from a Titan bite. It was a death sentence that no one could come back from without amputation.

Levi tried to think of what to do. Eren needed more guards. He might have been able to reject the bite, but that didn’t mean that the Titans wouldn’t attack him. The elderly man had been all too happy to sink his teeth into Eren’s flesh and rip a chunk away. The infection might not kill him, but Levi was certain that bleeding out would.

“Why won’t you kill me?” Eren whined. He sounded more delirious than before. Levi knew it was because there was no way to stop the blood flow and not stop the infection.

Levi sighed as he looked down at the fallen brat. “Because you might be the key to a cure.”

 

It took Levi a few more minutes to come up with a game plan, but when he finally did, it seemed like a good one. He left Eren where he was, on the ground, for a moment, and went into the back again. There was a small section of the store that was blocked off by a door. Levi grabbed his knife out of its sheath and opened it up. There was nothing inside except a cheap couch, an equally cheap wooden table and a lot of dust. It looked safe enough.

He went back over to Eren and picked him up so that he was cradling the man against his chest. It wasn’t the most convenient of situations, but he figured that it would be the most comfortable for Eren. He walked over to the old lounge and laid him on the dingy couch. “I’m sorry, Eren,” Levi told him. “This is going to hurt, but I can’t have you bleeding to death while I’m gone. I’m going wrap my sleeve around your shoulder again. It’s going to be painful, but I’m trying to save your life. I’m going to get the others and figure out how to transport you out of the town. When I’m gone, you can’t make any sound. Do you understand? You have to stay quiet; you can’t attract any Titans.”

Eren nodded slowly, and Levi prayed that he wasn’t just agreeing for the sake of it. He wrapped his sleeve around Eren’s arm and heard the man hiss in pain. He swallowed repeatedly, but didn’t make any loud noises. His face screwed up in discomfort as a small whimper came out of his mouth. Despite this, he just inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, as though it would hide him from the agony that Levi imagined that he was going through.

“I’ll be back soon,” Levi told him before he got up and walked away from the prone figure. He shut the door behind him and walked out of the store. He ran at a steady pace past the building and down the street, heading to the apartment complexes. It didn’t take him long to get there. He rushed toward the building that he knew that Erwin had been assigned and darted to the room down the hall with an opened door. He saw Erwin and Armin both in the living room, placing things inside of a blue tote to take with them.

“Hello, Levi,” Erwin greeted. “Why don’t you help us—”

“We need to just cancel the expedition,” Levi told them quickly. He walked up to Erwin with a serious gaze. His commander, who’d had his mouth open to most likely demanded if Levi had lost his damned mind, looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Levi took that as an invitation to explain exactly what he meant by that and continued. “Eren’s healing. The infection is leaking out of his arm with the blood. That’s why he’s in so much pain. His body is kicking out the virus.”

“Eren,” he heard Armin whisper. Levi looked down and saw the most innocent and hopeful gaze that he’d ever come across. “He’s…he’s still alive?”

“He’s weak,” Levi told them both. “We need to find a way to get him to the cars and get him the hell out of here. He needs to get back to the base so that our doctors can look him over.”

Erwin nodded and said, “It’s time to call off the entire thing. Come on, you guys. We’ll just have to come back out on another day. It’s time to go.” He walked out of the door without another word. Once they were outside, Erwin looked over at them and said, “You two get back to Eren and make sure that he’s safe. I’ll go and collect the others, and get them to spread the word to everyone. We’ll figure everything out once everyone has gathered. Understood?”

“Yes, commander,” both Levi and Armin said. Levi turned around and began walking off without another word. He heard the running footsteps of Arlert attempting to catch up with him. Feeling a surging amount of pity for the poor boy, he sighed and slowed enough for the blond to reach him.

He was wearing a large smile that was only offset by the tears tracks that had marked up his cheeks. The boy seemed really whiny to Levi; part of him was surprised that he wasn’t crying tears of joy. He shook that asshole thought away and tried Isabelle’s advice. She had once told him that he was too headstrong, and needed a lesson in sensitivity. He’d told her that she was an idiot, and that there was nothing wrong with how he acted. Apparently, that had been an example of what she had been talking about, and he had proven her correct. At that reply, Levi had just scowled at her and waited for whatever she had to say…it would be better than walking away and having her shouting at him across the training courtyard. _Try putting yourself in other people’s shoes in bad situations. Sometimes the fact that it’s not happening to you makes you judge things the wrong way, and you end up looking like a total jerk._ Levi hadn’t appreciated her comment then, but he figured that trying it wouldn’t hurt.

He sighed and thought about it. Armin and Eren were pretty close friends. Whenever he’d seen one of them around their base, the other hadn’t been far behind. It led Levi into believing that they’d known each other for years…probably a lot like Levi had known Isabelle and Furlan long before any of this had started. The thought of them dying left a hollow spot full of pain in his chest. The fact that they were still here as opposed to gone told him that the pang of loss that he would feel if that happened would be a lot sharper than the thought of it.

Suddenly the brat didn’t seem so whiny. Levi figured that some people were more emotional than others, and they expressed their hurt differently. “Tch. Eren’s going to be fine. We have a lot of skilled people out here. We can enlist someone strong to carry him for us, and the rest of us can guard him until we get to the car.”

“T-that’s exactly what I was thinking,” Armin told him. His voice was shaky and nervous, as though he was expecting Levi to jump at him and attempt to rip his head off. It was probably from the way that the recruit had spoken out at him earlier. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had felt brave and yelled at him; he doubted that it would be the last. At least Armin’s outburst hadn’t been one of attempted dominance. He’s just been afraid for his friend, and didn’t want Eren to die. Levi could respect that.

“You’re supposed to be some type of tactical genius, right?” Levi asked as they made it to the crossroad that the store sat on the opposite side of.

“Y-yes, sir,” Armin nodded.

“Just call me Levi,” he told Armin. “If that’s the case, then that’s probably the tactic that we’ll use.” It was the reason that Erwin wanted him in the Scout Regiment, after all. They got to the store and walked around back. Much to Levi’s surprise, there was nothing there. No Titans had wondered over, and with all of the noise that Eren had made, he figured that was nothing short of a complete miracle. He opened the door and they both walked inside. Levi pointed to the door and let Armin rush inside. He could stand out here and make sure that nothing got in. He figured that Armin really was a lot more emotional than him, and the display of doubtless tears that were about to be shed would be enough to make him very uncomfortable. To hell with that awkward feeling.

It took a while for others to show up, and they didn’t come in a massive group. They trickled in; one or two every couple of minutes. Petra was first, thankfully. She smiled at Levi before turning and walking into the room that Levi pointed at. She would be able to look at the wound and give a better opinion on it than Levi would be able to.

“Levi!” Petra called him. Levi turned around and immediately walked into the room. Petra was positively beaming up at him. It was a stark contrast to Eren, who was staring at nothing in particular with a dazed, in-pain look on his face. She grinned even wide and jumped up. Before Levi could protest, she had already collected him in a massive hug. He grunted and tentatively put a hand on her back. He patted her awkwardly, unsure of what else to do. Petra didn’t seem to mind in the least. She just pulled away from him and cried, “I knew that you were compassionate somewhere deep down inside! He’s actually healing! I’m so proud of you.”

He looked at Petra with a stoic expression and simply raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look,” Petra told him with a smile. “You never would have taken the time to look at the wound before executing him. You’ve changed!”

“Shut up,” Levi muttered, looking down at the ground. “I haven’t changed.” He turned around and said, “Don’t call me like that unless something’s wrong.” He walked back out of the room and took up his original spot, leaning against the wall and watching the opened door with his arms crossed.

Mikasa came next, and then, a minute later, Reiner and Annie followed. Lastly, Erwin followed up with Furlan in tow. His blond friend looked at Levi with wide eyes, clearly either unsure of what was going on, or he just didn’t believe it.

“Thank you god; you’re okay,” Furlan sighed. He walked over and pulled Levi into his second hug of that day…second hug of that year. He squeezed Levi against him and rested his head on top of Levi’s shoulder, a strange feat, considering how much shorter Levi was than him. Levi rolled his eyes and awkwardly patted Furlan’s back, just like he’d done to Petra before and waited for the strangeness to end. Furlan pulled back a bit more quickly than Petra had and looked at Levi with a frown instead of a smile. “You never use the flares. I thought you were as good as dead when Erwin told me that you had. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get here sooner, my squad was being held down by a few of the undead on the other side.”

“I understand,” Levi replied. He wanted to tell Furlan that he hadn’t needed him here, but he figured that it would have hurt his friend’s feelings more than it would have done anything else. He turned to look at Erwin, who had silently watched their exchange with something akin to humor in his eyes. Bastard. “I’m guessing this is it.”

“Yes,” Erwin told him. “I figured that there were enough of us, especially when everyone here is either Elite or a veteran…aside from Arlert.”

“How are we going to get Eren back to the cars?” Furlan questioned. “I understand that we can’t drive one up here. It would make too much noise….” He trailed off and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was clear that he had just saw the obvious plan that had been in front of them the entire time. “Braun’s carrying him?”

“Yeah,” Erwin replied. “I don’t think that there’s a stronger man in the colony…aside from Levi, of course.”

“I’m not stronger than Braun,” Levi replied, rolling his eyes again. It was the truth. In a battle of brute strength, Reiner would win against Levi with no problems, but Levi was quick, strong and was a very capable fighter. He doubted that the blond could take him. “The others are still getting people, spreading the word that the expedition’s been cut short, right?”

“Yeah,” Erwin replied. “We need to get a move on.” He led the way into the other room where everyone else was. “You’re carrying him, Braun,” Erwin told Reiner. Braun nodded and walked over to the couch. Eren looked as though he was half asleep, but his eyes snapped opened as soon as Reiner touched him.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” Eren muttered quietly.

“It’s not going to feel good,” Levi told him truthfully.

Eren nodded and sighed. “I figured as much…just do it.” Reiner complied without having to be told again. He cradled Eren in his arm the exact way that Levi had done. Eren was a lot smaller than Bertholdt, probably the reason why Reiner was doing it. He saw Eren grind his teeth together and clench his fists. Levi was impressed by how well he was blocking the pain out. If Eren was anything, the man was strong.

 

There were Titans halfway to the cars, much to Levi’s displeasure. He sighed in annoyance and stepped forward at the same time that Erwin, Mikasa, and Annie did. Furlan and Armin had been given strict orders to stay next to Reiner in case something happened and one of the Titan’s got past them.

Levi just couldn’t grasp the idea. _Why_ was he counting ten Titans shuffling around in the middle of the road, just blocking their way as though they had nothing better to do. He felt his eye twitch in annoyance. The universe really had it out for Eren. He’d never seen someone go through so many consecutive times of misfortune. It was as though he wasn’t supposed to succeed. Levi guessed that it was a good thing that he was working with the brat, because Levi had no idea what the world fail meant, and he didn’t want a vocabulary lesson on it.

He cut the first Titan down before it could turn around and look at him. He ducked under a clumsy swing of a second one and came up behind it. He booted it in the back, knocking it to the ground, but before he could duck down and eliminate it, he felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. He turned around, blades swinging, and cut off the arm of a Titan that was maybe an inch from his chest. He slammed that one to the ground and gouged the flesh out of him with his knives. He turned to take care of the second one that he’d encountered, and saw that Erwin had already taken care of it for him, along with three others. Annie and Mikasa had managed to take down the other four.

“Damn,” Furlan said with a crooked grin as he clapped his hands together. “Remind me never to piss any of you off.”

“I’d be more worried about Isabelle, if I were you,” Erwin told Furlan with a small smile. Levi frowned slightly at their commander. It was small comments like those that Made Levi wonder if the man really despised them as much as he had when they had first joined.

Furlan laughed at this and nodded. “You’re right about that, sir.” They began moving again at a brisk pace. If the bodies wouldn’t have been strewn on the ground behind him, people would believe that they had never stopped in the first place.

The cars came into view a few minutes later, and he saw that the rest of his squad, along with Mike, most of his people and the majority of Hange’s team were present. That was a pretty good turnout in so little time. “Where are the others?” Erwin spoke up. Mike, who’d been staring at the ground as he leaned against one of the vans looked up at the question.

“They’re on the way, sir,” he replied. “They were the farthest from the vans.” He walked closer to them and nodded toward Eren. “What’s wrong with him? Is this the reason the entire mission has been called off?”

“He’s been bitten,” Levi said quietly. He didn’t want to alarm the rest of the people waiting. It wouldn’t do any good to try and waste time explaining it to them. “He’s healing himself, though. His body is rejecting the infection, and pushing it out.”

Mike looked at them with widened eyes, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Levi didn’t blame him. He wasn’t certain that he would have believed it himself if he hadn’t been the one to see it. “You sure, though,” Mike asked, looking at Eren again with a frown. “He doesn’t look like he’s fighting it off very well.”

“Well he was bitten,” Petra told Mike with a shrug. “He’s lost a lot of blood. I think the teeth went deep enough to puncture a vein or an artery. I’m not sure which one. He needs to get it checked out, though, by a professional.”

“Of all days for Hange not to be here,” Mike muttered. He just shook his head and looked at Reiner. “Come on. We can lay him in the back of the van with Bertholdt.”

Reiner looked reluctant. Levi rolled his eyes and said, “Put Jaeger in another van and I want Braun to stay with him incase we’re wrong. I don’t want him to turn and have a vulnerable snack.”

Mike nodded and gestured for Reiner to follow him. Armin looked at him with a faint smile and said, “That was nice of you sir,” after they left.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, brat,” Levi grumbled. He was getting sick of people calling him nice. He wasn’t nice; people called him an asshole for a reason.

“Mr. Grumpy Pants doesn’t like being referred to as nice,” Petra told Armin as she slung an arm around the blond’s shoulders. “Don’t take it personally. It’s just how he is.” She winked at Levi and said, “I imagine that he’ll eventually come around to the idea that he’s not a complete jerk…it’s not a bad thing, you know.”

“Tch. Idiot,” Levi murmured, turning around and facing Erwin. “Maybe we should load up some of the scouts with us and go ahead and take Jaeger back to the base. He needs to be looked at by Hange before anything bad happens to him.”

“You’re right,” Erwin replied. He turned toward the crowd and yelled, “All recruits load up into the van by Mike! We’re heading out early!”

Levi saw a few people moving, namely Jean, Marco, Annie, Mikasa, and Armin. Some of the veterans began walking toward the van as well, climbing in with them. Reiner was already in the trunk with Eren. Levi could see his tall silhouette through the tinted glass.

“I’ll stay here and hitch a ride with the rest of them,” Levi told Erwin. “You go ahead with them. I think that you speaking with an overly excited Hange might turn out better than if I tried explaining things to her.”

Erwin nodded slowly and put a hand on his shoulder. “Be safe. I expect you back at the base an hour after my arrival. If not, search teams will be taken out to find you.”

 

Eren wasn’t sore when he woke up. He remembered being in Reiner’s arms, and then passing out when he was on the street, walking toward the armored vans. That was about it.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a dimly lit room. He was laying on an uncomfortable cot that was so thin he could feel the metal springs digging into his back. He grimaced at the feeling for a moment before a thought popped into his head. _I should be dead!_ It was the truth. Eren had no right to be able to register the discomfort of the cot. He should be a soulless creature, walking around and trying to eat live flesh. He wasn’t, though. He was alive. A smile broke out on his face. He attempted to sit up, but a hand came out and roughly shoved him back on to the mattress.

He looked up in alarm and saw that there was a large man standing above him. He didn’t recall ever meeting him, and was confused as to why he would be looking over him while he was unconscious. “Don’t move, freak.”

Eren scowled at the name and snapped, “Who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m your warden at the moment,” the man replied. Eren looked a bit more closely at him and saw that he had brown hair that looked as though it needed to be cut again. It was sticking up all over, as though he was trying to hide the obvious receding hair line that was showing on top of his large forehead. His eyes were sunken in, and he had black bags underneath. Eren had a feeling that sleep was a foreign concept to the man, which might explain why he was being so damn rude.

“My warden?” Eren demanded. “What the hell did I do to receive a warden?”

He scratched the thick brown mustache that was covering his upper lip and looked down at Eren in disgust. “Do you always badmouth your superiors?”

“Maybe if I knew who you were, I might know if you’re my superior,” Eren snapped back. He didn’t like this man, and he didn’t like the way that he was looking at him. It was as though he wished that Eren was dead. That pissed him off, considering that Eren had never had so much as a conversation with him.

“Kitz Woerman,” the man growled. “I’m one of the leaders of the wall guard. I’ve been tasked with babysitting you while you were unconscious.” He took a step back and looked at him with narrowed eyes. His eyes were behind his back as he examined Eren. “Now that you’re awake, however, I guess I can ask you a few questions.”

“Whatever you want to know,” Eren told Kitz, “I promise you that I don’t. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t even know what you’re watching me for! I haven’t done _anything._ ”

“Don’t lie, Eren Jaeger,” Kitz told him. “Are you human or Titan?” he questioned. “Think carefully about your answer. This could decide whether you live or not.”

Eren blinked at this man. “Could I get someone else in here to be my warden? I think you might need to get some sleep.”

“Answer the question!”

“I’m human!” Eren shouted. He was aggravated now. This idiot was apparently hallucinating from exhaustion. He was going to have to have a word with the rest of the military that was around here, if that was what they really were. “I’m _alive_. How could I be one of the undead when I have a damn heartbeat?”

Before Kitz could answer Eren’s question, a wooden door swung open and slammed against the wall beside it. A tall woman with a ponytail stepped through. In a bubbly voice, she cried, “I heard noise! I’m glad to see that you’re finally awake, Eren Jaeger!”

Eren blinked and looked at the bespectacled woman. She was smiling almost maniacally, and he hair was pulled back into a ponytail, leaving all of her crazy out for the world to see. “I’m Hange Zoe, and it’s really nice to meet you! Commander Erwin told me all about what happened. I wanted to get a witness to give the exact details, but getting information from Levi is about as easy as getting it from a Titan. No matter, though. I’ve ran some tests on you, and your blood came back negative for any viruses. I’m please to say that you are officially healthy.”

“Don’t suffocate the boy, Hange.”

Eren looked past the eccentric woman and saw the blond hair of the commander. He and Levi walked in behind her. Erwin smiled at Kitz and said, “Thank you for guarding him, Woerman, but I think we can take it from here. Why don’t you go and relax a little?”

“Yes, sir,” Kitz said. He cast Eren a dirty look and turned around, walking out of the room without another word.

“So, Eren,” Erwin said. He grabbed a chair that was sitting at a desk near the front door of the room. He pulled it over to the cot that he was laying on, and sat down next to him. He smiled warmly at him and said, “I think it’s time that we talked a little bit.”

“We can try, sir,” Eren replied. “I can’t make any promises as to how helpful I’ll be. I honestly don’t know anything. I haven’t—”

“You’re not in trouble, Eren,” Erwin cut him off gently. “Calm down. We just want to know a few things about you. You have to understand that nothing like this has happened before, that we know of. We just want to know what’s so different about you. By all rights, you should be dead, and you’re not. Honestly, Hange wasn’t very hopeful that you were going to pull out of it. You were in a coma for almost a week.”

Eren’s eyes widened at this news. “Armin. He’s got to be worried. I need to—”

“You need to lay down,” Levi told him sternly. “Arlert is fine. He’s been kept informed about your status. Let’s focus on you.”

Eren tensed slightly. He wanted to argue so badly, but he knew that there was no point. He just sighed and nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“Did you know that you were immune to the virus?” Hange asked him immediately. Her brown eyes were wide in excitement, making Eren feel like little more than a test subject.

“Let Erwin ask the questions, Four-eyes,” Levi snapped at Hange. “You’re going to scare him!”

She nodded and looked back at Eren, a bit more subdued than before.

“I…uh…no,” Eren finally replied. “I didn’t know that I was immune. As far as I knew, I was just as susceptible to the sickness as anyone else.”

“Okay,” Erwin said. Eren saw Hange pull a clipboard out of nowhere and watched her scribble something down on it. Probably his answers. “Your parents. I know that you’re the only Jaeger here, but I need to know about them. I’m sorry if it’s a sore subject.”

“My mother was killed by a hoard of Titans the night that my town was overrun at the start of this. I…I don’t know about my dad. He was a doctor and was out of town for an emergency call when everything went downhill. I haven’t seen him since then.”

“Do you believe that he’s still alive?” Erwin asked.

“I would like to,” Eren replied. “I doubt it, though. Everything’s gone to hell. No one would be able to survive very well on their own, out there. He wasn’t exactly cut out for surviving this type of world.”

“Were you?” Erwin asked. “Did you parents try and prepare you in any way?”

“No,” Eren replied. “I just found this community fast. It’s probably what saved my life.”

“Hange found something very interesting on your person when she was examining your wound,” Erwin told Eren. He pulled out a key that was tied to a leather cord. “Care to explain what it is?”

Eren frowned. “I feel like this is more of an interrogation than questions,” he snapped. Then the key glinted off the light, becoming even more visible. Eren stiffened as a memory played through his mind.

_“Dad,” Eren asked. It was him maybe a year and a half before. He had shorter hair, and looked a lot more kempt. He looked at his dad with fearful eyes, while Grisha Jaeger looked at him sorrowfully. “What’s going on?” He was in a dark forest, and the only source of light was a lantern that was sitting on the forest floor. His father looked haunted in the dim lighting. He was nothing like the man that Eren remembered raising him. This Grisha looked deranged._

_“Please just remember that I love you,” Grisha told him. “I’m not the bad guy here. You will avenge your mother’s death, I promise!” He pulled a syringe out of a bag that he had with him._

_“Dad,” Eren said yet again. He looked down at the needle and then took a step back as his father came closer to him. “What’s that? What are you doing?”_

_“I’m sorry, son,” Grisha said sadly. “Please forgive me!” Without another word, Grisha lunged at Eren, who tried to jump out of the way. He was too slow, and his father caught him, taking him to the ground. Eren squirmed, struggling to get out of his father’s grasp. It was no use, however. Grisha was a lot stronger than he looked. “I’m sorry, Eren,” Grisha looked sad, as though he was about to cry. “I promise that I love you.” He injected the needle into Eren’s arm before he thrust the golden key at him. “Keep this with you always! When you look at it, remember that you must go back to our house! You must go into the basement!”_

Eren sat up, gasping for hair. His skin felt too hot, and wet. He was pouring sweat.

“Woah, there,” Levi said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, Eren.” Eren looked up at him with wide eyes, and Levi removed his hand. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at him with unreadable eyes. “Do you mind telling me exactly what the hell that was about?”

Eren just looked at Levi silently for a moment, trying to formulate an answer. He opened his mouth to explain what had happened, but the moment that he did, he faltered. He frowned as he tried to recall his dream. What had it been about? He remembered his…his…. “Oh god,” he groaned, putting his face into his hands and shaking slightly. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I really don’t know. I know that it has something to do with a basement. I need to go to my basement.”

“Is that what the key is?” Levi questioned. “Is it to your basement? Most people have keys to normal things like that on a keychain.”

“It’s not normal,” Eren replied. “All I know is that I need to get to my basement.”

“Why?” Levi questioned.

“I don’t know,” Eren snapped. He looked at Levi with a scowl. “Don’t you think I would have mentioned why if I knew?”

“You’re the man with the answers in the scenario,” Levi informed him coldly. “That means that I ask the questions.”

“Really,” Eren bit back. “I thought that was Erwin!”

“Do you see Eyebrows here?” Levi asked coldly. “I’m the one that you’re answering to.”

“And if I refuse?” Eren questioned.

“Then I give you up to the interior guard,” Levi replied simply. “It seems that the majority of the big guys that run this place are convinced that you’re just bad news that needs to be exterminated. They think that you’re in league with the Titans…or at least whoever created this epidemic. I’d start speaking up if I were you.”

“That’s crazy!” Eren cried. He tried to stand up, but Levi pushed him back down. “How could anyone think that?”

“Fear does strange things to people’s minds,” Levi replied with a shrug. “There was peace here. It might have only been an illusion, but you’ve shattered that. You’ve taken something that was known as a fact and ripped it apart. People want answers; they want someone to blame for how things are, and you’ve just volunteered yourself for that role.”

“I…I…but I just…I didn’t do anything!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Levi told him simply. He sighed and sat down next to him. He looked down at the mattress. “I know it sucks, and it’s unfair, but so is the fact that anyone has to live through this hell. Just deal with it for right now, and tell me what you know.”

Eren looked at Levi. He wanted to be angry at the short man, but found himself unable to be. He knew that Levi was just doing his job, and that he really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Eren was acting like a complete brat, blaming Levi for his problems. He was acting no better than the idiots that were persecuting him within the walls. “I think that my dad gave me the key,” Eren muttered. “I can’t remember when or why, but he always wore it on a leather cord around his neck.”

“Do you know what was inside of this basement?” Levi asked.

“No,” Eren said. “I was never allowed inside. He always told me that I would be able to see it when I was older.”

“Is that all you know?” Levi asked.

“I think so,” Eren replied.

“If you remember anything else, seek either Erwin, Hange or myself out to tell us. Not everyone knows that you’re immune. Don’t tell anyone, and we should be okay. Understood?”

Eren nodded silently, his mind still reeling from everything. He needed some time alone to process everything that happened. “I…I need a shower. Can I please go and take one?”

“Yes,” Levi replied. “We’re in Hange’s lab right now. It’s outside of the walls, so we’re going to have to get back in.”

“How?” Eren demanded.

“There’s a pathway. We’re right by the gate.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin is promoted and gives some advice. Eren is interrogated. Jean is a troublemaker Levi is annoyed.

Armin walked into the Survey building and looked around. He’d been summoned by Oluo, who’d informed him that Erwin wanted to talk with him. The man looked a bit unhappy, and Armin figured that it must have been very degrading for the man to act as a fetching dog, especially when he had to get a recruit.

Armin walked down the long hallway that was filled with numerous rooms. All of them were either supply rooms or offices of the squad leaders. Erwin’s was at the dead end. He knocked on the door and waited. “Come in,” he heard his commander’s muffled voice say.

He complied, opening the door and walking inside. Erwin’s office was a good size, equipped with a large desk that was filled with different papers and pens. His windows were open, admitting natural light into the room, making it almost as bright as it would be with electric light bulbs.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Armin questioned. He had no idea why he felt so nervous. He hadn’t done anything wrong, as far as he knew. Yeah, he’d snapped at the commander while they were on the mission, but that had been a week ago. He figured that he would have been called in before now if that was the reason for this meeting. Unless the commander had been too busy to address this until now.

“Yes I did,” Erwin nodded. He looked at Armin with a smile and asked, “Would you like to sit down?”

Armin did so. He sat with a stiffened back. He would have taken Erwin’s smile as a sign that he wasn’t in trouble if he hadn’t seen it plastered on the man’s face constantly. “Relax,” Erwin told him. “You’re not in trouble. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve called you in here because I would like to speak with you.”

“About what, sir?” Armin asked.

“Firstly,” Erwin said. “Eren woke up about three hours ago. I would have informed you sooner, but he seems to have relapsed. Don’t worry, though. Hange said that he’s fine, and should be awake again in a few hours.”

Armin sighed in relief. He smiled at the commander. “Thank you for telling me, sir.”

“He’s your friend,” Erwin told him. “You’re the closest he has to family. I would never keep that from you.” He clasped his hands together. “I’ll take you to see him as soon as we’re finished here.”

“Thank you,” Armin repeated, unsure of how else to express his gratitude. He smiled at Erwin, who smiled back. The large man looked back down at his desk for a moment before looking back up at Armin. His smile was gone, and Armin felt the atmosphere tense.

“I know that you thought that I called you in here about what happened on our mission,” Erwin told him. “I am not upset with the way that you reacted. I understand that you volunteered to be here at my request, and I understand that losing friends hurts a lot.” He looked at him seriously. “I’m not going to lie to you, though, Armin. It happens all the time in this branch. It’s going to happen to you eventually. I think that you will be a very valuable asset to our team, and I would greatly appreciate you staying with my division. I will understand, however, if you decide to leave us. This work is purely voluntary, and if you would like to be switched to the interior guard, I’ll put in the paperwork and a recommendation for you. You’re smart enough to be an advisor, and if that’s what you want, I’ll grant you that.”

Armin looked at him with wide eyes. Erwin was serious; he would grant this to him. Armin knew that he should take this offer. He didn’t need to be there anymore for Eren; his friend was immune to the virus, and he had faith in his him to be able to fight himself out of being eaten alive, even if he was wounded. He found himself shaking his head anyway. Getting out of this suicidal division would probably be the smart thing to do, but for once he wasn’t going to do exactly what his brain told him.

“Thank you for your offer, commander,” Armin told him, “but I think that I’ll stay.”

“Why?” Erwin asked him.

“Because I’m very expendable,” Armin smiled at him. “There are other people more fit to lead than I am. I’m no good with a lot of people, and have no place among the heads. I’m more fit with the Scouting Regiment. You guys are smaller and I can help make quick decisions. If you will allow me to stay, sir, I’m going to remain a Surveyor.”

“You’re brave,” Erwin smiled at him. “I respect that a lot more than you know.” He stood up and walked around the desk. Armin looked at him, unsure of what Erwin was getting at. He just walked past him, however, and grabbed a map. “I would like for you to take a look at our next mission. We’re going back to the town that we just came from, Ragako.” He placed it on his desk and put paperweights on the sides to make the paper stay flat. “If you wanted to get the most supplies out as efficiently as possible, with the least amount of deaths, what would you do?”

Armin looked at the town’s roads, their exits and entrances. He then looked at the part of the town that they had been in, and tried to remember what buildings correlated with the roads that he saw on the map. “Okay,” Armin sighed. “You need to gather up the soldiers that were going through the goods in the separate parts of the towns, and figure out which sections were more lucrative. Instead of driving in formation, and parking on one side of town, we need to split up and drive to the sections with the most items. Drive trucks or SUVs instead of vans, we’re going to need them to have hitches so that we can attach trailers to them. It’s less armored than the vans are, but they’ll drive faster without the weight of the extra metal, and they will out maneuver any Titans, if we have good enough drivers. Have the less skilled soldiers carry the goods out, but for every lesser solider, have a more seasoned one with them, protecting them and the cargo for any surprise undead. To prevent any more casualties, send in the best fighters first, have them scope out the entire area, and make sure that no undead are lurking around. Once the coast in clear, have the lesser soldiers come in, comb through the place and have two soldiers standing guard outside, so that they can pick off any undead that come their way. This will hopefully stop a surplus of them from congregating in one area. It will prevent them from having to stop and exterminate a large group, and it will be a lot safer in the long run.”

Armin looked back up from the map. Erwin was smiling at him as he stood behind him with his arms clasped behind his back. The larger man nodded and said, “I see that the instructors weren’t lying. You are a genius.” Erwin held his hand out to Armin, who tentatively took it. “You’re also my newest advisor. Congratulations.”

 

Eren looked a lot better than he had the last time that Armin had seen him, which had been on the ride back to their colony. He had color back in his face, and was even smiling weakly when he rushed through the door to see him. Levi was sitting on the chair next to him with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked as bored as ever, but the stiffness that Armin had started to associate with the surly man was not there.

“How are things going?” Erwin asked.

“Jaeger took a shower,” Levi said. “He’s not filthy anymore, thank god. I didn’t have to force him to get up and do it, either. He actually volunteered.”

Armin smiled slightly at this. He’d picked up on Levi’s nearly obsessive need to keep things clean and organized. It was humorous to him, and it was alarming.

“How are you feeling?” Armin asked Eren. He walked up to the bed as Levi stood up and gestured to Erwin. A moment later, they were out of the door, shutting it behind the two of them.

“Better,” Eren admitted. “I’m alive. It’s a good feeling.”

“Yeah,” Armin agreed. “You scared me for a minute there, you know. Please don’t ever do something like that again.”

“I’m not going to try to, that’s for sure,” Eren promised him. “That was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt in my life. I don’t want to go through it again.”

They sat in companionable silence for a few heartbeats before Eren looked back at him pleadingly. “Listen to me, Armin,” Eren muttered. “I have to go back to Shiganshina. I have to get to my basement.”

Armin frowned at Eren. Did he have a concussion? “What?”

“I’m serious, Armin,” Eren hissed. “I don’t want to say this in front of them. I don’t want to arouse any suspicion, but I think that the answer to why I’m like this is there.”

Armin looked at him for a few more seconds before he just shook his head. “Why do you say that?”

“My dad gave me the key to the basement. I don’t know when or why, but I know that I have to go there.” Eren looked at him so seriously that Armin found it impossible to question the man’s statement. Eren had to go there, and it was something that his friend was certain about.

“Alright,” Armin said. “It’s been two years since we’ve been there. Rest and recover. Whatever is in that basement can wait a little longer for you, alright? There’s no point in trying to rush things and get yourself hurt all over again.”

“Fine,” Eren grunted. Armin couldn’t help but smile. His friend was probably the most headstrong person that he knew, and Armin was the only person that he listened to without complaint. It was empowering to know that Eren trusted his judgement so much. He figured that was what friends did. Armin wouldn’t trust a lot of people with his life, but he knew that he would put his life in Eren’s hands without question.

The door opened again, and Levi and Erwin stepped inside of the room. “Eyebrows told me some interesting things about you, Jaeger,” Levi said as the door shut behind the pair. “You’re the son of a doctor…Dr. Grisha Jaeger.”

Eren nodded silently. Armin saw that his face was almost weary.

“You’ve been here for a little over a year. We know your full name. It’s extremely sad that we didn’t connect the last names.” Levi came to stand behind arms with his arms clasped behind his back. “You see, Eren, there’s some funny information about your father that you probably already know about. He was a part of the organization that started this mess.” Levi crossed his arms over his chest. “You have a lot more explaining to do than what you’ve given.”

“You can’t honestly suspect me of being in the league of the people that started this!” Eren cried. His green eyes were wide and his chest started heaving. Armin wasn’t sure if it was from anger or panic.

“I don’t think that you understand, brat,” Levi told Eren. “This isn’t about what we think about you. It’s the higher ups that are calling for your head, and this bit of information isn’t going to make anything better. What would you think if you were in our situation right now?”

“I…I…” Eren trailed off, not answering the question. “I understand where you’re coming from,” he finally sighed. His voice was so resigned that Armin’s heart broke for him. “I suppose you’re going to kill me now, right?”

“We don’t want you dead, Eren,” Erwin told him. “You’re not understanding what we’re trying to tell you. We don’t care if your father was a part of all of this or not, because he doesn’t tell us anything about you. Just tell us everything that you know. Don’t lie to us, please.”

“My basement is in Shiganshina,” Eren told them quietly. Armin figured that he knew why he sounded so upset. Shiganshina was the start of the outbreak. It was where the most causalities happened, and there were bound to be more Titans crawling through there than anywhere else in this forsaken land. “I need to get there as soon as possible. I don’t know what’s inside of that place, but I know that it’s important.”

“What do you know of this, Arlert?” Erwin asked him.

Armin blinked and looked at his commander for a moment as he tried his best to come up with a proper way to explain what was going through his head. “I didn’t know Mr. Jaeger very well,” Armin admitted. “He was not home much, always out doing runs for his job. He always seemed very secretive, and Eren wasn’t lying about the basement. When I was a lot younger, I used to think that his dad would keep dead bodies in there, or something. I really don’t know what’s in there.” He was quiet for a few more moments before he shrugged. “I guess it would make a lot of sense to listen to Eren and see what was in there. At best, it could be an answer to why the world is like this; at worse, Eren could be completely hallucinating and there’s nothing there. We have nothing to lose.”

“I find human life to be a lot,” Levi snapped at him.

“It’s a gamble, just like everything else,” Erwin said, placing a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “No one has to go. It’ll be risky, but I can see why this needs to be done. It’ll be purely volunteer only. I don’t want to force anyone to go; they’ll just get themselves and others killed with them. I’ll start drawing up plans for this excursion. Don’t mention this to anyone else,” Erwin told them. “Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Levi, Armin and Eren said simultaneously.

 

“Why don’t you just tell her that you like her?” Armin asked Connie. They were sitting in the mess hall. Both of them had their trays of food in front of them. Connie was clenching and unclenching his hands. His knuckles were practically white he had been squeezing so hard. The reason for this suddenly violent behavior was none other than Sasha Blouse.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Connie snapped at him. He slammed his spoon into a watery soup, splashing it everywhere before pulling the utensil back up and taking a bite out of it. “I don’t like anyone.”

“Why are you lying?” Armin asked him with a small smile. “It’s okay to like someone. Sasha’s a nice girl; you don’t have to be ashamed of it. It’s not like you’re pining after a whore.”

“You sure about that?” Connie asked. At least he was admitting that he felt something for Sasha. “All Reiner did was give her his bread. She’s all over him!”

“It’s a hug, Connie,” Armin told him exasperatedly. “Plenty of people give out and give hugs, especially when someone does something nice for them. I’m sure that if I were to offer Sasha something off my plate, she’d hug me too. _You’re_ the only one that she offered to kiss.”

At that reminder, Connie’s ears turned pink and he looked back at his food. “Shut up,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong with him?” Eren asked. He sat his tray of food down across from them and slid on to the wooden bench seat. “He looks as though he’s about to either flip the table or he’s been hit over the back of the head and is about to pass out.”

“I think it’s a bit of both,” Armin said nonchalantly as he ate scooped up more of his food and ate it. “How are you feeling?”

“I actually feel fine,” Eren admitted with a small smile. “I think that things are finally starting to look up.”

Connie stood up from the table. “I’m out of here. I’ll be practicing on the fields if anyone’s looking for me.” He got up and walked over to the trash, banging out the leftovers before putting the tray on the table next to it. He stalked out of the room a moment later, slamming the door when he went.

“So, what’s his problem?” Eren asked.

Armin found himself giggling lowly as he gave Eren a half smile. “Girl troubles.”

Eren raised an eyebrow at this but didn’t respond as he turned back to his lunch. They both ate in a companionable silence after that.

“I see your suicidal tendencies haven’t killed you yet, Jaeger.” Jean Kirstein said pointedly to Eren as he put his tray on the table and sat next to Connie. He looked at Eren with a smug expression that almost resembled a smile. “I’m impressed.”

“Shut the hell up,” Eren muttered, taking another bite of his food. Armin knew that Eren would normally be the first person to stand up and start a fight with Jean, but he was holding himself back. He was worried that the higher ups would do something to him if he stood out too much, and picking a fight with Jean was just the way to do that. “Go and talk to someone that actually wants to see your horse face. All you’re doing over here is braying like a jackass.”

“That’s a donkey,” Jean told him. “Get your animals straight.”

“Close enough,” Eren snapped, slamming his spoon down. “What is it going to take for you to screw off?”

“Nothing, Jaeger,” Jean said. “What’s got you in such a bad mood? Did your commanding officers tell you that you’re as much of an idiot as I think you are?”

Eren tensed slightly, and Armin figured it was because Levi had called Eren an idiot on more than one occasion. It was probably still a sore spot for the man. “Quit antagonizing him, Jean,” Armin sighed, pushing his food away from him; he didn’t really feel hungry anymore. He was too frustrated for food. “He’s had a bad week. Get off his case.”

“Bertholdt was injured too,” Jean told Armin. “I don’t see why Jaeger is any worse off than him. Hoover’s just as normal as can be.”

“You don’t see it because it’s none of your damn business!” Eren finally snapped. He stood up, but Armin intervened before Eren could reach over and attempt to drag Jean across the table.

“Just get over yourselves, already,” Armin told them both angrily. “You’re not enemies! The only enemy is outside of these walls, and that’s what you need to be focused on beating. Now quit fighting each other and try to get along at the very least.”

“Whatever,” Eren muttered. He turned around and stalked off, walking out of the cafeteria, leaving his food on the table.

“That was uncalled for, Jean,” Marco was standing behind him and Jean. Armin jumped slightly and spun around to look at the freckled man. He was looking at Jean sternly. “You shouldn’t try and start things with people.”

“Whatever,” Jean muttered. He slumped back down and began eating again, though it seemed as though he was more vicious about it. His mood had soured when Marco had talked to him.

“The commander told me to come for you, Armin. He asked me to tell you that he wants to talk to you as soon as you’re finished eating,” Marco said. “He said that it was important.”

“I just finished up,” Armin told him with a smile. “Let me get mine and Eren’s tray—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Marco said, waving his hand dismissively. “Jean and I will take care of your and Jaeger’s plates. It’s the least that we can do, seeing as how Jean made Eren stalk off when the poor guy hadn’t done anything.”

“I’ll take that tray when Hell freezes over,” Jean promised, eating his food even more roughly.

“I—”

“I’ve got it,” Marco told Armin firmly. He gave Armin a meaningful look.

“Alright,” Armin sighed. He smiled at Marco and muttered a quiet thank you before he walked out of the mess hall. He looked around, but Eren was nowhere in sight. He’d probably went out with Connie to vent some of his frustrations as well.

He internally shrugged as he wrapped his jacket a bit more firmly around himself. It was getting even colder. He made his way down the road, shivering slightly as he passed homes that families occupied. He saw small children playing out in the yards, and wondered if he would be able to have something like that one of these days. It was a nice thought, but somehow he doubted that he would be able to.

The Scouting Regiment’s headquarters was not much warmer than outside, but at least it provided some relief from the icy wind that had been cutting straight through him. He slowly stopped shuddering as he walked down the hallway that would take him to Erwin’s office. He saw another door open, and noticed that Levi was inside. Much to Armin’s surprise, Eren was in there as well. He heard their quiet voices, but judging by their facial expressions, it wasn’t going to stay quiet for very long. A heartbeat after he passed the room, he heard the sound of the door clicking shut. Their quiet argument was escalating, and quickly.

Erwin’s door was open when he walked up to it. The commander was standing with his arms behind his back. There was another man inside with him. He was bald with a bushy mustache. He had wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, as though he spent a lot of time smiling. “This must be the guy you were telling me about, Erwin,” the man said. Armin recognized him as commander Dot Pixis. He was the leader of the wall guard.

“Ah, yes, Pixis. This is Armin Arlert. Armin, I’m sure you already know who this is.”

“Yes, sir,” Armin nodded. Pixis held his hand out to Armin, who immediately grasped it and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“This one has manners,” Pixis marveled. “That’s a step up from the last one you chose.”

“I chose him for different reasons than Levi,” Erwin told Pixis.

Commander Pixis laughed and nodded. “I suppose you did.” He smiled at Armin and said, “Erwin tells me that you’re a genius. Is that true? There’s no need to be modest around me.”

“Y-yes, sir,” Armin said. “I hope to be able to put my talents to good use.”

Pixis smiled. “I’m sure that you’ll help give humanity a chance unlike no other.” He sighed and pulled a flask out of an inner jacket pocket. He unscrewed it and took a swig. He cringed slightly before sighing. Armin had a feeling that the container didn’t exactly hold grape juice, which was why he shook his head when Pixis offered it to him. “I best be off, Erwin. I know you have some important things to discuss with Armin. I wish you both the best of luck.”

“Thank you, sir,” Armin mumbled as Pixis walked out, shutting the door behind him. He turned to look at Erwin. “You wanted to talk to me, commander?”

“Yes, I did, Armin,” Erwin said. He leaned against his desk, in the most casual stance that Armin had ever seen him in. “I know that you felt obligated to agree with your friend while you were in Eren’s presence. I would never dream of unnecessarily straining such a close companionship, after all, in this world, it’s really all that would keep anyone going.”

“What are you trying to say, sir?” Armin asked.

“I want to know if you honestly believe what you told me in front of Eren,” Erwin told him. “Do you really think that going to Shiganshina is a good idea? Levi had a good point when he said that human casualties is a very big deal, and it is a lot to lose. Do you think that there is something in Eren’s basement that could answer some questions as to why we are in this mess?”

“I think that it holds answers,” Armin replied. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, “That doesn’t mean that it is going to hold something that is going to make us any better off. Sometimes, all an answer is, is knowledge that really can’t be applied. The question is, will the information that we gain from going into this basement be anything other than just that. That is the gamble that you’re going on.”

Erwin nodded his head. “Thank you, Armin,” he said. “I think that makes a very good point. I apologize for asking you your opinion once again when you were not in front of Jaeger, but you do understand the necessity of it.”

“Of course I do, sir.” Armin assured him. That question made Armin wonder what Eren and Levi were arguing about in the other room. He opened his mouth to ask the commander, but covered it up with a yawn at the last minute. A part of him figured that it wasn’t his place to ask, and it definitely wasn’t his business. “Is there anything else that you need?” Armin inquired.

“Not at the moment, unless you would like to help me start coming up with a proper plan to get into Shiganshina,” Erwin proposed. “I think that we can come up with something fairly successful together in no time.”

“I would be honored, sir,” Armin replied with a smile because he really would be. He saw Erwin smiled back down at him. The man had a very charming smile. It was bright, and his blue eyes twinkled in the light. Armin could get used to working with him just because of that.

 

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” Levi snapped at Eren. He’d been dragged to the survey building moments after he’d left the mess hall. So much for being able to work off his animosity at Jean by stabbing straw dummies.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eren retorted, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. “I just walked out of the cafeteria! I didn’t have time to be difficult about _anything_!”

“You were arguing with Jean!” Levi snapped. “I was in there when you did! I don’t think you understand how fragile your situation is!”

Eren blinked, unsure of what Levi was talking about. Levi frowned at him, obviously realizing his confusion. He muttered something under his breath about stupidity, and stomped over to the door, slamming it shut before whirling around to look at Eren again. He was seated in a chair across from Levi’s desk. With the shorter man standing up, and staring down at him, Levi seemed a lot scarier.

“You’ve been told so many times that the higher ups want you dead,” Levi growled. “Do you think that was a joke. They think that you’re dangerous, and that you’re probably a traitor. You father was in league with the people that started this damn virus. Do you realize how bad that makes you look? Then, you walk around fighting with the people that are on your team! That makes you seem threatening, as though you’re trying to cause discord within the system here!”

“He started it!” Eren protested. The words came out of his mouth without him really thinking about them first. As soon as they hit his own ears, he realized how stupid they sounded, and how irrelevant they were.

Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. It looked as though he had a headache, and Eren was willing to be that he was that ache in the shorter man’s skull. Part of him was proud of being able to get under the stoic man’s skin so easily, and another part felt guilty.

“I don’t give a damn who started it, Jaeger,” Levi finally sighed. His voice was quiet, and calm. For some reason, this scared Eren even more than the blatant anger did. “You need to keep a low profile. I want you to stop picking fights and listen for once in your life! We’re trying to keep you alive!”

“Why do you even care if I live?” Eren snapped. He was getting fed up with Levi’s hero bullshit. The man was so apathetic all of the time. He didn’t care about anything, and Eren was getting the feeling that he was doing this just to have someone to yell at

“Human life is precious at the moment,” Levi replied. “Every life counts, and you’re another body that can go out and eliminate the Titans. Why would I just let you die?”

“Don’t hand me that,” Eren snapped.

“You think you’re special, or something,” Levi scoffed at him.

Eren scowled at his superior. “No,” he shot back. “I think that you just don’t like me, and you’re looking for reasons to yell at me!”

“Think again,” Levi said as he rolled his eyes. “I have no interest in being around you any longer than I have to. You’re about as annoying as Four Eyes and Eyebrows combined.”

“Well then get off my case!” Eren snapped. “I didn’t ask you to breathe down my neck the entire time that I’m in this damn camp!”

“Then start acting smarter! We need you to be there when we go to Shiganshina! Or did you forget that we’re supposed to be taking that trip? You’re the entire reason that Erwin has concocted this stupid gamble! The Scout Regiment is the only reason that you’re alive right now, and that trip is a big part of the reason that we’re pushing for you to stay that way! We can only do so much, though. If the executives here decide that you’re more trouble than they think you’re worth, Erwin won’t be able to do a damned thing, and they’ll kill you. Is that what you want, Eren?”

“I don’t know what I want anymore,” Eren snapped at Levi. He hadn’t meant for that part to come out, but the man was pissing him off to the point where he had no filter over what came from his brain to his mouth.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Levi asked. His voice had reached a dangerous calm that caused chills to roll down his spine.

Eren opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. What was he supposed to say anyway? _Yeah, dying right now doesn’t sound so bad since I had a taste of it not too long ago._ He had a feeling that Levi wouldn’t take those words too well, even if they were true. Eren was tired, something that he hadn’t realized until after that Titan had bit him. Sure, it had been scary at first, but then a part of him felt at peace with what had happened. He had been so ready to just give in, and let death take him. He was so tired of fighting, of clawing and grasping at life. He was sick of knowing that every breath that he took would be his last if he wasn’t cautious. He hated living this way, and part of him yearned to just give up.

“Answer me, damn it!” Levi snapped at him. He stepped forward and put his hands on Eren’s shoulders, roughly shoving him back so that he was staring up at him. Eren felt his heart pound in nervousness as he looked up at the angry man. “What did you mean by that?”

“What do you think I meant?” Eren finally yelled back. “I think it was pretty obvious!”

“You listen to me, Jaeger,” Levi growled at him. “You’re not allowed to think like that. You’re going to fight, and keep fighting. Life here may be pure hell, but it’s still life. You have the right to live, but you have to fight for that right! Do you understand me?”

Eren looked up at him, and he suddenly felt his anger give out. He slumped forward and probably would have sagged to the ground if Levi’s hands wouldn’t have been clamped to his shoulders. “I’m just so tired,” he sighed. “I don’t want to die, but when I thought that I was going to, all of the weight just lifted off my shoulders. It scares me how much I was okay with it when it happened.”

“I’m not saying that it’s going to get any easier,” Levi told Eren, “but you will get used to fighting. You may think that you’ll just give up when the time comes, but you won’t. You’re not going to let yourself go down without giving it your all.”

“How do you know that,” Eren asked.

“Don’t question me, brat,” Levi shrugged, letting go of Eren’s shoulders and taking a step back. “I know what I’m talking about though. You’ll keep fighting until there’s nothing left in you.”

Eren just looked at Levi disbelievingly. The man had a passion in him that Eren hadn’t believed could ever exist in someone so apathetic. He felt respect starting to burn in his chest as he took Levi in with a completely new attitude.

“Now go and blow off the rest of your steam with Springer at the training grounds,” Levi told him, waving him away, his demeanor going back to cold and apathetic almost immediately. “Remember to keep a low profile. Understood?”

“Yes, Levi,” Eren nodded. He rose to his feet and walked to the door. He opened it, but before he stepped out into the hallway, he turned around and gave his superior a small smile. “Thank you for saying that.”

“Tch. Whatever, brat. Just stop being so stupid.”

“Of course,” Eren said as he walked into the hallway. “I’ll never be idiotic again.”

“I don’t believe you,” Levi informed him, causing Eren to crack a slightly wider grin as he shut the door again. He guessed that Levi wasn’t as bad as he made himself out to be in the beginning. Eren could serve under someone like him. The man wasn’t as heartless as he tried to act. It was good to know that he was human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! I have a question for the people that read this story! I was wondering if someone would like to beta this work. I've never had a beta, but I'd like one if someone would be willing to! I know that there are some errors in this, and I would love to have someone to bounce some ideas off of. Keeping myself on track is difficult, so if there would be someone out there that would be willing to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you're interested!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi have bonding time out on the road...fun right? Probably not.

Levi rolled his eyes as he thought about his superior’s _brilliant plan_. He allowed himself a grimace as he stalked toward the lot where all the vehicles were parked. He remembered Erwin’s triumphant smile as he talked to Levi, telling him that he might have found a solution that would allow everyone to win.

Levi was supposed to take Eren out on a survey mission.

_“Everyone will get what they want with this scenario. The higher ups want Eren gone, and this will get rid of him for a short amount of time. It’ll only be the two of you, which means that we aren’t risking a lot of people with him, which will also make them happy. Eren will get more training done, which is good, considering that Shiganshina is a dangerous place, and he needs to be more experienced. Also, this can be the time that we prove that Eren isn’t trying to work against us.”_

That was how Erwin’s entire speech had gone. Levi, being the eloquent person that he was, responded with a simple, “Tch. Whatever you say, Eyebrows.” And he just walked out the door. Now he was regretting it. He could still remember the way that brat had smiled at him the last time that he’d come in contact with Eren the day before. It had been a fond and friendly smile. The man was starting to warm up to Levi, which wasn’t a good thing. People that didn’t keep their distance from him were the ones that he ended up getting close to. Of all people, Eren Jaeger was the last person that he wanted to befriend. He was a magnet for trouble, which normally didn’t go hand-in-hand with a long lifespan, especially in this world.

_Just get it over with and get back,_ Levi coached himself. If he could do that, he would be in the clear. He could be standoffish better than anyone else that he knew. It would be simple enough to be aloof to Eren until they got back. That was just counting on the fact that he could take a hint. If Jaeger didn’t want to take the hint of his own accord, then Levi would just make him take it. There was no way that he was going to make any more friends, because he didn’t need anyone else to care about. Hange and Erwin were bad enough to add to Furlan and Isabelle.

 

Eren was already at the car lot when Levi arrived. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and was shivering from the cold. When Levi got closer to him, he could hear his teeth chattering. He frowned at him; yeah, Levi figured that it was maybe ten degrees above freezing, but it wasn’t that bad. Of course, when he took in what Eren was wearing, it made sense.

“Where the hell is your jacket?” Levi demanded.

“Hange wanted to run some tests,” Eren said. He started shivering even more, as though opening his mouth had let out some of the warmth in his body. “She wanted to see if my tolerance to cold was improved by my ability to fight the infection.”

“That’s insane,” Levi snapped disapprovingly. “Did you not bring a jacket with you?”

Eren nodded. “It’s in my bag.”

“Then get it out and put it on,” Levi told him. “You’re about to go on a scouting mission. This is no time for you to be getting sick because Hange is getting too carried away.”

Eren unslung his pack from his back immediately. He unzipped it, and snatched out a black jacket. He pushed his arms through it and zipped it up. Levi saw that it was a leather coat, and raised an eyebrow. Eren looked surprisingly good in it.

“Come on,” Levi told him, not even giving his last thought the dignity of a reaction. He walked past him and moved to one of the cars. It was a small Fusion. It would be lightweight, and good on gas. It was a good thing, considering they wouldn’t be bringing anything back, so wasting fuel was completely out of the question. Eren opened up the back seat on the passenger’s side and threw his bag inside. Levi mimicked him and tossed his own bag in. He saw another black duffel bag already there; it was the food and water that they would need for their journey. Levi knew that there were full gas cans in the trunk in case they needed them, and maps in the passenger’s side door.

“You’re in charge of the maps,” Levi told him. “I’ll show you how to do it once, but after that, you’ll mark things down on your own.”

“What kind of things?” Eren questioned as Levi started the car and pulled out of the lot.

“Details,” Levi explained as he drove down the street to the gate. He waved at one of the members of the Garrison, he thought his name was Ian Dietrich, who opened the gate without question. “You’ll mark spots where it seems likely that supplies will be found. If you could estimate what kind of supplies would be found there, that would also be helpful.” Levi sighed. “Relax for now, though, Jaeger. It won’t be for a while.”

 

It was a day’s drive from the spot that the corps had finished scouting. Since they did their looting in a circle that radiated out from the camp, there hadn’t been a reason to look for any supplies farther out than that. By the time that they had gotten to new territory, the sun was already setting.

“Alright,” Levi said. “We’re not doing any scouting tonight. We need to find a spot to camp out until daybreak.” They were on the interstate, zooming past unused cars and stumbling corpses. Levi didn’t even blink as he swerved to miss an undead woman, who was shuffling toward them with her hands outstretched. Eren on the other hand, reached to the roof of the car and grabbed the emergency handle. Levi saw that his eyes were clenched shut and his jaw was locked, obviously anticipating pain.

Levi rolled his eyes, feeling amusement tugging at his gut. “Calm down,” he ordered the man. “I’m not about to crash.”

“Why don’t you act like you don’t have a death wish, then,” Eren snapped. “The last time I checked, the roads were empty, except for us! There’s no reason to put us in danger!”

“I’m not going to put you in any danger,” Levi snapped. He took serious offence to Eren thinking that he could lecture him about putting anyone in danger. Eren was all too familiar with thoughtlessly putting the people around him in peril. He had no room to talk. He pulled off at the next intersection, knowing that it would take them into Dauper, a small town, though this one was mainly rural. Levi knew that there probably wasn’t much to find there, seeing as the people in the town mostly hunted their own food. It would most likely afford them some shelter anyway.

Levi would have guessed that the reason that Eren was so quiet was because he had sensed Levi’s mood, but he knew better. Eren had never cared about that before, and Levi seriously doubted that he would start now. Something else was probably bothering him, but he didn’t know what it would be. What he hated more than anything else was that he was curious as to what was bothering him. Levi shouldn’t care what was bothering the stupid brat. He shouldn’t care at all. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He hated Eren, and that was how it was going to stay.

They rolled into the town by the time that Levi had personally coached himself into an apathetic coma. The town was filled with nothing but trees and rocks. He swore that these people lived back in the eighteen hundred’s. He figured that the place that he had come from was no better. The slums were not a nice place to live, and when you were young and small, it was even worse.

“I don’t try to get people killed,” Eren finally snapped at him as Levi pulled on to a small road. Levi sighed and stopped before he turned to look at Eren.

“Do you really want to do this now, Jaeger?” he asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to do anything,” Eren retorted. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked away from him, clearly uncomfortable. “I just don’t want you to think that I’m completely incapable of doing things, so I just try and get people to die with me. That’s not who I am.”

“I never said that was who you are,” Levi replied. “All I’m saying is that if you would have lived where I did when the world was still running, you wouldn’t have made it. You don’t think, and that puts people in danger.” He sighed, “I want you to start thinking before you do things. It’s the only way that you’re going to be able to make it out here. It’s the only way that your friends are going to be able to rely on you. If you don’t start doing that, you’re going to make decisions that you’ll end up regretting later on. Just try, alright? I’m not expecting miracles from you. I know that you’re impulsive; you’re young. It’s expected.”

Eren looked at him with wide eyes and slowly nodded his head. “Alright,” he said. “I understand.”

“We can talk more about this later,” Levi told him. “For right now, let’s just pick a house and get it cleared out. I want to get some rest before my driving shift tomorrow.”

“This one looks harmless enough,” Eren said, pointing to the house that was the first one on the street, to the left. Levi looked it over with a raised eyebrow. It did look fairly harmless. It was small, probably one of the smallest on the road. Of course, there were a lot of trees, something that annoyed Levi to no end. It was impossible to see Titans coming from far off with so much forestry in the way. Considering that the entire town looked like that, it would be impossible for them to find a yard that didn’t look like this. He had a feeling that Eren was thinking on the same lines, which was probably why he had just picked the first house that they pulled up to…because why the hell not?

They pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. Levi sighed and looked around for a moment before he reached into the backseat and pulled out a couple of flashlights from the bag that had been placed inside of the car before they had taken it. He handed one to Eren before he opened his door and got out. Eren followed behind him quickly, and they began creeping toward the front door, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence. He knew that the Titans were mostly dormant at night, but there were always a few that didn’t follow the guidelines researchers had drawn up for them.

The door was unlocked and they just walked right in. Levi looked around and shrugged. The place had been cleared of any valuables, that much was obvious, but it looked as though someone had already taken care of the Titans for them. Eren seemed to think the same thing, because he relaxed. Levi didn’t believe in not making sure. “I know it looks empty, but it might not be. We need to do a check, just in case.”

Eren nodded his head and stepped back from Levi. “I’ll check the bedrooms, if you want,” Eren offered.

Levi silently nodded. “That’s fine. Keep your guard up, and shout if you need help.”

“Yes, Levi,” Eren replied as he turned away from him and walked down the hallway that broke off from the kitchen. Levi turned around and went the other way, checking the section of the house that extended from the living room. He had a feeling that Eren was trying his best to prove what Levi said was wrong. Hell, Levi hoped that he could, because it would make his suicidal tendencies go way down.

 

Eren had offered to take the first watch for Levi. The poor man had been up for a while, driving. Eren disliked driving when there had been other people on the road. For some reason, he didn’t think that he would like it anymore when one had to watch out for stumbling zombies randomly walking in the road, attempting to chase a car. He had a feeling that would be almost as annoying as the road rage he used to feel when people would cut him off or drive too slow.

He looked around the living room quietly, admitting to himself that it was a nice house, even if it was a bit small. The furniture had been a high-quality leather couch, recliner and loveseat with a now busted wooden coffee table in the center, all sitting on a tile floor that Eren couldn’t distinguish the color of with the low light. The kitchen was just as nice, with a gas stove and a fridge that had felt like it would be expensive when he’d brushed past it on the way down the hallway.

He had always imagined himself living in something like that when he finally finished school. Instead, he was sharing his living quarters with Armin, Connie, Sasha, and Mikasa. It was a pitiful living existence, with only two bedrooms and a small living room. Plumbing and showers were only available in the public bathrooms, so that meant that the kitchen and the bathrooms in the house were completely useless, and just a waste of space.

As he looked out of the window, he realized that there was sunlight starting to peek through. Eren sighed. He knew that he was supposed to have gotten Levi up to take a shift way before this, but Eren hadn’t been able to bring himself to. He was fine, and wasn’t even all that tired. Levi, on the other hand, had looked exhausted. The shorter man needed the rest more than Eren did…especially if Eren was going to be trusting him to drive them around.

“Why didn’t you wake me up, brat?” Levi’s groggy voice met his ears. Eren turned around and saw that he was shuffling into the kitchen. He put a hand over his mouth stifling a yawn before he rubbed his eyes. “You needed to rest too.”  It was as though thinking about Levi had made him appear. The man slowly walked toward Eren and plopped down onto the couch with him a moment later. Eren turned to look at Levi, and concluded that Levi was not a morning person. For some reason that made Eren smile slightly. He was learning more and more about the surly man that was making him seem more and more human. It was a nice discovery.

“I’m fine,” Eren replied after a few seconds.

Levi scowled at him and brought his hand up. Eren flinched, thinking that he was about to be struck. He then froze when Levi placed his cool hand against Eren’s cheeks, which were starting to heat up. He looked at Levi with wide eyes, unsure of what the man was doing. Levi just seemed to ignore him, frowning at something on his face. Then Levi’s thumb swiped underneath Eren’s eyes.

“You’re not fine,” Levi said after a moment. He swiped the area again, and Eren found the gesture almost comforting. He had to force himself to stay stiffened, otherwise he might lean into the touch…talk about mortifying. How long had it been since he’d been comforted?

“Y-yes I am,” Eren protested stubbornly.

“Brat,” Levi sighed, shaking his head. There was no heat behind the word. It was almost as though he was using the phrase as a term of endearment, and little else. “You’re not okay. You look completely exhausted. Why would you do this to yourself?”

“You needed sleep,” Eren finally admitted. He could feel his cheeks burning, and realized that Levi probably could too. That made them flare even more. Levi just shook his head and removed his hand from Eren’s face, straightening back up. “I…I know that you’re going to call me reckless, but we’re not getting out of the car, and we don’t have to go off the road to scout. I didn’t want you, the person that was driving, to be tired.”

“I’m not going to call you reckless,” Levi told him. He looked over at Eren and nodded, “Thank you for looking after me like that. Next time, though, I want you to sleep too. It’s not good for you.”

Eren nodded his head, amazed that he wasn’t being scolded. “Yes, Levi.”

Levi nodded curtly before he stood up and stretched. Eren noticed, with a smirk, that Levi had a case of bedhead. He had to cover his mouth to stifle a snicker. He had no doubt that the man could beat the snot out of him if he felt like it, and he would much rather not give him a reason to feel that way. Levi walked over to the window and pushed the curtain aside. Light poured into the room, causing Eren to squint and cover his eyes for a moment. He slowly lifted his hands, finding the stinging slowly becoming more bearable.

“There are a few stragglers in the yard,” Levi told him. “We’ll need to take care of them before we head out, of course.” Eren nodded, even though Levi couldn’t see him. A few Titans weren’t that bad. It was when they started roaming around in packs that things got dangerous.

“Do you want to take a nap or something before we head out?” Levi questioned him, turning away from the window. “I don’t mind, and it might be better for you to be in top shape mentally.”

“I’ll be fine,” Eren said quickly. He didn’t want Levi to think that he couldn’t handle something as insignificant as sleep deprivation. That would be embarrassing.

“Whatever you say, brat,” Levi replied nonchalantly. “Don’t fall asleep in the car, though. I’m going to need you to be focusing on the maps.”

“I can do that,” Eren assured Levi, who just raised an eyebrow at him. It was obvious that the shorter man didn’t believe him. Eren just smiled back at him; he would show Levi that he could handle being tired and still working. He’d pulled more than one all-nighter while he attended college, it wouldn’t be so bad to do it all over again.

 

It sucked. Eren was fighting with himself every moment to not close his eyes. He realized that the only reason that he hadn’t fallen asleep in class after an all nightery was because his teachers had been talking at the very least. Levi was a quiet soul that rarely spoke. After the tenth or so time of him tilting his head forward only to snap straight up after he realized that his eyes were about to slide shut, did he realize that he had a problem. He looked over at Levi as subtly as he could, praying that the man wasn’t looking over at him. Eren saw that he wasn’t, but there was something off about him. The man looked a bit smug; there was nothing overly different about the indifferent look on his face, but his eyebrows were raised a little more than usual, and his grey eyes were a bit brighter.

Eren breathed out of his noise in exasperation. Asshole.

“Take a nap,” Levi sighed a moment later. “I know you’re tired. There’s no point in staying awake right now.”

“We’re almost to the town that we’re supposed to scout,” Eren protested. “I’m not sleeping now; besides, I’m _fine._ ”

“Whatever you say, brat,” Levi murmured. “It makes no difference to me if you’re going to sleep or not. If you’re fine, then you’d better do a good job on the maps.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “What’s this town called?” he asked as he grabbed the map from the side of the door and began to unfold it.

“Stohess,” Levi answered.

Eren tried his best to hide a flinch when the car swerved. He was trying his best to get used to Levi’s ‘driving’. He was accustomed to speed limits still being in place, but now that there was no one around to enforce the road regulations, it was even more of a suggestion than before. Levi righted it again before pulling off another exit. They road down a ramp that intersected with a much smaller road. The town itself was anything but small, from what Eren could see.

The buildings were tall and wide, there were skyscrapers in every direction that he looked, and the buildings just kept going. Eren raised an eyebrow as he looked around. “Isn’t this a dangerous place to go?” he asked Levi curiously. “I figured that there would be more Titans in larger cities, and that’s why we avoided them.”

“There are,” Levi replied. “Stohess is a bit different, though. The place was evacuated before the outbreak could get too far, since it was the closest large settlement to Shiganshina. The reason why everyone’s a bit wary about this place is because we don’t know what happened to it in the past two years. People probably migrated back in because it was empty. We don’t know if they’re dead, or if they’re still alive.”

“Sounds like this could be a problem,” Eren remarked. “Was it smart just to send two people out on this mission?”

“It wasn’t smart going out on this mission at all,” Levi replied. “None of our missions are smart. We do them anyway because they need to get done. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that there’s anyone around that it overly worried about your safety. You’re a pawn, just like everyone else in that town.”

“If you think that, then why are you still in the town?” Eren questioned.

“Because no matter where you go, you’ll always be someone’s pawn,” Levi replied. “At least I know what these people are using me for. I don’t know what someone else might do. Keep that in mind.”

Eren nodded slowly, except he didn’t really know what the higher ups within the walls had in mind for him. All he knew was that he was still alive right now, and he was doing whatever was necessary to stay that way.

“Enough talk,” Levi said as they made it to an intersection. Levi didn’t even pause as he took a right. He pulled to a stop maybe a hundred yards down and pointed to his left. There was a large building sitting in the middle of the lot. There was no logo on it, and Eren couldn’t really tell what it was.

“It’s a supermarket,” Levi told him before he could ask. “We’re on Reiss street.”

Eren looked down at the map that was spread out on his lap. It took him a couple of seconds of looking around at the tiny lines that stood for roads before he found the correct one. He made a noise of victory, letting Levi know that he’d found their location.

“Draw a star on the left-hand side of the road, and write canned goods above it,” Levi instructed.

Eren quickly did what he was told before he looked up at the building. He had no idea how Levi knew any of that information by just looking at the building itself. There was no indication of it, and they were too far away from the supermarket to look through the intact windows to tell what the place sold. He would take Levi’s word on it for the time being. He knew more than Eren did, that much was obvious.

“Is this all I have to do?” Eren questioned, looking over at Levi questioningly.

“That’s basically it,” Levi replied. “The only thing that you have to do is memorize the different symbols: Star means food, circle means non-edible supplies, check means medical supplies, and an X means dangerous territory.

Eren nodded in understanding. He could understand why these scouting missions were so important. It let the Scouting Regiment make the most of their time outside of the walls. It would ensure that they didn’t have to waste any of their sunlit hours scouring through stores, unsure of what was inside.

“It’s a shame that we can’t make it less dangerous for the people,” Eren sighed as they drove along.

“It’s a dangerous job,” Levi replied. “There’s no telling when something’s going to come around and kill you. There’s no way to make it any safer. That’s already understood when people sign up. It is what it is.”

Eren nodded in understanding. He guessed that he could see where Levi was coming from in his reasoning. It just pained him to see so many people die because of these monsters. It wasn’t fair. It was their birthright to live beyond the confines of the walls in the gated community. He hated having to fight for it so much, because no one should have to fight for the right to not be eaten alive.

“Quit thinking about it,” Levi commanded. “Keep your mind on the task at hand.”

Eren rolled his eyes. Levi was sure job driven. He hadn’t expected him to be so dedicated to this cause. After all, rumors say that he was a thug in the slums before he’d come to the colony, dragged by Erwin. Eren just sighed and looked out of the window. There was a small, darkened shop that Levi was just going to ride past. “What about that one?” Eren questioned. “There could be something in there.”

“There isn’t,” Levi responded confidently. He didn’t even slow the car down.

“How do you know?” Eren demanded. “You didn’t even look at it!”

“I just know,” Levi responded. His town was a bit curter than usual. Eren heard the unspoken command clearly: _don’t question me right now, brat._ Eren sighed and leashed in his curiosity reluctantly. He had to ride back with this grouch after all. It wouldn’t do to be arguing with him the entire way back. For all Eren knew, Levi might get sick of him and literally kick him out of the car…while it was moving. That mental image made him grasp his seatbelt, ensuring himself that it was still there, wrapped around him like a security blanket.

They turned off the street, making a right at another intersection. Eren looked down and saw that the road that they were currently on hit a dead-end right after this intersection. Levi must have studied this map thoroughly before the trip. Eren rolled his eyes; it was probably because he didn’t trust him enough to give him proper directions yet.

They rolled up to another building and Levi told him to draw a circle and write clothes on top of it. Eren did as he was told. He had to hold in a sigh. This was probably the most tedious job that he had ever been given, and his drill sergeant, so to speak, Shadis, made him scrub the entire cafeteria with a toothbrush for mouthing off at him after he and Jean had gotten into an argument. Eren looked out of the window of the car, glancing at all of the tall buildings that went on and on and on. It was going to take them forever to do this damn job.

“You don’t strike me as the type to do these kinds of jobs,” Eren remarked after maybe another hour of silence, other than Levi telling him what to write.

“I’m not,” Levi responded. He offered no more explanation than that. Eren was about to just let the subject go, but his boredom got the better of him, causing his curiosity to start clinging on to any new, potentially interesting, information.

“Then why are you doing this one?” Eren questioned.

“Because you’re dangerous, apparently,” Levi replied.

Despite how blunt the shorter man was, Eren wasn’t expecting an answer that straightforward. “The higher ups are scared of their own shadows, so obviously, they would be intimidated by someone like you. You’re unfamiliar, and they don’t like that, because they don’t really know what you are…hell no one knows what you are.”

“The last time I checked, I was human,” Eren informed him.

“I figured that,” Levi told him. Eren had no idea if Levi had just chosen to ignore his obvious sarcasm, or hadn’t realized it. “All I’m saying is that no one knows what to make of you. The higher ups didn’t want to pointlessly lose any lives to you if you turned out to be a foe. The only way that they could get you out of the town without banishing you, which would be bad for publicity on their part, was to give you a scouting job.”

“You were sent with me because they believe that you could kill me,” Eren sighed. He should have figured as much. “So you’re basically like my babysitter.”

“More or less,” Levi replied. “Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you do.”

“I don’t need a damn babysitter,” Eren grumbled.

“Suck it up,” Levi responded. “It’s not your opinion that matters. Prove them wrong, and you won’t have one.”

Eren didn’t reply as Levi pulled to a stop next to an intersection. “Mark an X through that entire road,” he instructed him.

Eren nodded and did as he was told. He then remembered what the X meant, and looked back up at Levi questioningly. “What’s so dangerous about this road? It seems peaceful to me.”

Before Levi could respond, there was a loud popping sound, almost like an exploding tire, and then the unmistakable noise of glass shattering. He felt stings as shards of the passenger’s side back window hit him in the back of the neck. He hissed and ducked down, seeing that Levi was doing the same thing. As he looked at his superior for any sort of instructions, the only thing that he could think was that he was never going to ask questions again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it all. Is there a way to do betaing on this website? If not, how does that work? If anyone could tell me that, I'd be forever grateful.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi has a reunion with someone from his past. Erwin and Armin have a disagreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I didn't realize that it had been so long since I updated. Here's a chapter for all of you! I hope that you like it.

Levi looked over at Eren. He was crouched down, trying to get as close to the floorboards as he could reach with his seatbelt still on. Levi was hunched over the steering wheel. He knew that it was shit for cover, but he was fairly certain that he wasn’t about to die. The people that had shot at them would want to speak with him, at the very least. Levi knew that if they’d wanted to kill them, they would have that immediately. He closed his eyes, feeling annoyance well up inside of them. Leave it to these assholes to not be exterminated by the zombie apocalypse.

“I want you to keep your mouth shut,” Levi hissed at Eren. He looked over at the younger man, who was staring at him with wide eyes. Levi saw blood starting to drip down the back of his neck. “How badly are you hurt?”

“Just scratched,” Eren whispered. His eyes were starting to get their determined light back, and part of Levi wished that he would have stayed shocked for just a little bit longer.

“Alright,” Levi nodded. “Don’t say a word. Let me do all of the talking. Understand?”

“Do you know these guys?” Eren asked.

“I think so,” Levi told him. “They’re no one to screw around with. Don’t act stupid. It’ll get both of us killed.”

Levi didn’t wait for a response. He just sat back up and undid his seatbelt before opening the door and stepping outside. He could feel Eren’s gaze on him. It was causing the back of his neck to tingle, and Levi wondered if he was going to be able to follow his orders for this one.

 

“I thought I recognized your ugly face!” Eren couldn’t see who said it, but he could tell it was a man with a booming voice. Eren wearily sat up. He figured that it really didn’t matter if he was in the view of whoever had sneak attacked them from what Levi had told him. He turned around and saw a man long black hair, sunken in eyes, and a beard. He wore a black trench coat, and a matching hat. He was walking toward Levi like he had no cares in the world, which worried Eren. Either the man was stupid, and didn’t actually know Levi, or he was all too aware of who Levi was, and was so strong that it didn’t even matter.

“What the hell do you want, Kenny?” Levi asked. His voice sounded dead, though there was a sharp edge to it that Eren hadn’t heard in the man’s voice yet. He sounded dangerous, completely lethal. He sounded like the type of person that would slit your throat if you were looking at him in a way that he didn’t like, and calmly walk away as you fell to the ground. Eren might not have known Levi for very long, and had disagreements with him at every turn of his career as a cadet, but he hadn’t expected Levi to ever be this way, and it scared him to know that somewhere deep down, Levi was actually like this, because he sounded way too practiced for it to just be an act.

“Maybe I just wanted to talk,” Kenny drawled. “It’s not every day that I get to see someone that just walked out on all of us.”

“I didn’t just walk,” Levi snapped at him. Eren wondered if the way that he was talking was a very good idea. He had a feeling that Kenny wasn’t the only person out there. “You know as well as I do, that I wouldn’t just walk away from anything.”

“Is that why you’re back,” Kenny asked.

“No,” Levi replied. “I’m done with this now. I’ve been gone for a year and a half. None of you went looking for me. I have a new setup now. I’m not betraying that.”

“Ah,” Kenny sighed. He nodded to the car and asked, “Is this scrawny brat a part of your setup?”

Eren saw Levi stiffen, but it was only by the smallest fraction. Eren wasn’t even sure if Kenny would be able to catch it. Much to Eren’s surprise, the crooked smile on Kenny’s face seemed to grow as he said, “Get out here, boy. Why don’t you come and join the party?”

Eren sat frozen for a moment before he unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. He looked around nervously, but he didn’t see anyone else. “You’re not going to see ‘em, kid,” Kenny drawled. Eren looked over at Kenny, who was staring at him with a twinkle in his eye that Eren didn’t particularly care for. It didn’t matter, however. He had no choice but to walk around the car and join both him and Levi.

“What’s your name, son?” Kenny asked Eren.

Before he could reply, Levi cut in. “What do you want, Kenny? We haven’t got all day!”

“You have all the time in the world,” Kenny told him. “Now shut up and let me speak to the boy. I swear I never taught you enough manners.”

Levi’s jaw stiffened, but he nodded slowly. He turned to look at Eren and gave him a gesture to go on. “Don’t listen to him right now, son,” Kenny advised him. “I’m the one in charge right now. Isn’t that right, Levi?”

“Yes,” Levi grounded out.

“I’m Eren,” he introduced himself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Eren. I’m Kenny,” the man greeted. “I run a group around this town. You look like someone that doesn’t appreciate being bossed around. I can respect that. My nephew over here,” he gestured to Levi, “can be a complete asshole and a pain to deal with, something that you’ve probably already figured out. He also, apparently enjoyed being that blond bastard’s little bitch. I figure that you’d much rather be your own person, or did I figure wrong?”

“I…I…”

“Don’t worry about what Levi says,” Kenny told him. “He’s not going to do anything to you when we’re all standing here.”

Eren looked down and saw that Levi’s hands were in fists. His already pale knuckles were borderline white, and Eren had a feeling that his nails were moments from breaking skin. “I believe that there’s value in working as a unit,” Eren told him. “Everyone needs to be able to work together, and for that to happen, someone needs to be in charge. I don’t think that it’s about anyone being anyone else’s little bitch.”

Kenny looked down at him for a moment, his mouth opened slightly. Eren had a feeling that he’d said the wrong thing, and he was either about to experience a lot of pain, or he was going to die…possibly both. Instead, Kenny let out a loud laugh. It boomed, echoing across the sky, making Eren more nervous than anything else. That noise could attract a lot of Titans.

“I like this one,” Kenny said. He brought down a beefy hand on to Eren’s shoulder and patted it, though the strength was almost overwhelming, and Eren’s knees nearly buckled from the force. “It’s a shame that you do too, Levi,” Kenny drawled. “I think that we might have to kill him.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Levi told Kenny quickly. His voice still had that dangerous edge to it that made a chill go down Eren’s spine, but there was also a panicked note to it as well. “The kid’s valuable. You can get a lot for him. There’s no way that you’d want to kill him.”

“You think I care about any of that,” Kenny asked Levi. “I thrive off chaos. You know that.”

“I also know that you’re a business man,” Levi told Kenny. “Why don’t you start acting like one?”

“Why don’t you start acting like the damn captive you are, and shut the hell up?” Kenny snapped at Levi. His cheerful demeanor was quickly starting to slip away, and was being replaced by something a lot more sinister. “You think I won’t kill you because we’re related? That makes your betrayal of me so much worse!” He snatched Levi’s collar into his hands and slammed him back into the car, were shards of broken glass were still jutting out of the window. “I shouldn’t have saved you when you’re whore mother died! I should have left you to rot, all three of you traitorous bastards! I hope Furlan and Isabel are both dead. Hopefully they’ve been picked alive by the Titans!”

Levi just stayed where he was, allowing Kenny to hold him against the glass that was doubtlessly cutting into his back. He just stood there, taking all of the trash talk that Eren would have jumped forward and beat the life out of him for. Eren had a feeling that this was what it meant to be a leader. Levi wasn’t fighting back because it wasn’t just his life at stake; Eren was there too.

“I thought so,” Kenny smiled at his sadistically. “You’ve gone soft on us, Levi.” The man laughed and brought Levi away from the car only to sling him into the ground. Levi landed on his back with a painful thud. Eren wanted nothing more than to kneel down and help him up, but the look Levi gave him was enough for Eren to stand tall and pretty much ignore him. He looked up at Kenny, trying his best to school his features. If he was going to die, then the last thing he wanted was for the people that were going to execute him to know that he was scared. He had a feeling that Kenny saw right through him anyway, but Eren didn’t care. “Your friend on the ground…I’m guessing he’s your _superior,_ is completely useless to us. Whether he lives is totally depending on you, kid. Are you important enough to keep yourself alive, let alone both of you?”

Eren was silent for a minute, unsure of what he was supposed to say as a response. He knew that he needed to convince Kenny to at least give him a chance, so that Levi would have a chance as well. “Yes, sir,” Eren replied. “I…I survived a bite from a Titan.”

“Bullshit,” Kenny spat at him. He snatched Eren forward, causing him to trip over Levi’s fallen body. He stumbled and was only kept standing by Kenny’s hold on his jacket. “I don’t like it when people lie to me. Now stop being ridiculous, and tell me what your actual value is. Are you related to the leader of that colony, or something?”

“No!” Eren snapped. He pulled out of Kenny’s grip with a bit of a struggle before he pulled the zipper of his jacket up and shrugged it off. By this time, Levi had finally gotten his bearings and was sitting up. Eren grimaced at the blood that was seeping from his head and middle back. Eren slid his long-sleeved shirt over his head, trying his best to not tremble from the cold. He gestured toward his shoulder. Kenny moved closer and ran his finger over the ugly scar that had been left behind by that Titan’s teeth. It was still tender, but Eren didn’t mention that as Kenny poked and prodded at the wound.

“This is a nice finding,” Kenny mused. “I would guess that you would go for an outrageous amount of supplies. That is definitely enough to keep you alive, Eren. I don’t see this being enough to keep this traitorous piece of trash alive, though.”

Kenny snapped his fingers together as Levi unsteadily got to his feet. Eren wanted to tell Levi just to sit back down, but he had a feeling that this was more of a pride thing than anything else. A man with shaggy black hair, and a small goatee walked up. He seemed to have a perpetual frown on his face, but Eren figured that he would have one too if he had to work with someone like Kenny all of the time. “I’m sure that you remember Nile Dok, Levi,” Kenny said. Levi’s features seemed to darken even more as the man came into view. Something told Eren that Levi and Nile hadn’t been the best of friends.

Levi didn’t reply, though Kenny didn’t seem to mind. He was just looking at him with the most sadistic gaze in his eyes, and a large smile on his face. “This is going to be your executioner, Levi. I figure that I’d get him to slice your Achilles Tendon, and then we’ll set you into our Titan pits. What do you think about that?”

“No!” Eren cried. Levi looked over at him with the most pained expression. It was as though he was trying to convey _shut up, idiot, you’re only going to make things worse!_  Eren didn’t care, though. He wasn’t about to just sit down quietly while someone died. Levi wasn’t a bad guy. He had no idea how Levi had ever been tangled up with someone like Kenny, but that didn’t matter right now. The only thing that mattered was saving Levi.

“Don’t kill him. I swear if you do, I’ll run, and fight, and kick, and scream! I’ll fight until you have no choice but to kill me. I’ll be worthless then. Keep up both alive, and you have my word that I’ll be compliant.”

Kenny was silent for a minute before he just shrugged. “Whatever you say, boy.” He snatched Eren forward once again, and sneered, “If you so much as give me a thought of a reason that you’re not going to do exactly what I said with a smile on your face, I’ll kill Levi. I’ll torture him right in front of you, so that you know what you’ve condemned him to. Do we understand each other?”

Eren nodded silently.

“Answer me, brat!” Kenny snarled at him.

“I understand!” Eren shouted. Kenny laughed and let Eren go. “Good. You’re in charge of that trash,” Kenny pointed at Levi. “Let’s get out of here. He’s getting his blood all over the street.”

 

Levi was in pain. There was no escaping that fact. It had been over a day since they’d been taken. Levi had been dizzy and half out of it as Eren dragged him down the street, muttering apologies to him every time he accidently jolted him, so he honestly didn’t really know where they were exactly. All he knew was that they were in a small apartment. Judging from the windows, they were about five stories up, much too high for them to use that as a means to escape.

He was sitting in a dark room, on a small bed. He was hunched over slightly with his face in his hands as he tried his best to think of a way out of this. Eren had bartered with Kenny for Levi’s life, making his feel pretty useless. There was nothing that Levi could do about it now.

_Knock. Knock._

Levi looked up and saw that Eren was leaning on the doorway, looking at him with a concerned frown. “I need to see if I can get the rest of the glass out of your back. If it stays inside, it can get infected. You already know you don’t want that to happen.”

“I’m fine,” Levi replied stubbornly. He didn’t know why he was arguing with Eren so adamantly about it. He knew that he needed to be fixed up, but the thought of Eren having to do it after everything that he had already done was enough to make Levi sick to his stomach.

“Don’t be stupid,” Eren scoffed at him. “You just hit your head yesterday. I’m sure that’s what’s messing with you right now. Your judgement isn’t where it should be. Come with me to the living room so that I can see, and I’ll get the glass out. After that, you’ll be fine and can do whatever you want.”

“What don’t you get about me being fine?” Levi snapped at Eren. “Listen for once in your life, brat!”

“Why won’t you just let me do this?” Eren asked. He was shaking slightly and Levi realized that he was actually trembling. “I need you here with me in good shape. What good are you going to be to anyone if you’re not able to move?”

Levi sighed. He didn’t want anyone to have to save him like Eren did, and then he was just rubbing in his face by asking to take care of him. He knew that he was being completely irrational, but he didn’t care.

“Levi,” Eren said. His voice was a lot softer, as though he now understood what Levi was thinking. For some reason, that mortified him more than anything else. Eren pushed himself off the doorway and walked into the room. He gave him a weary smile and said, “I know that you can take care of yourself just fine. You’re the strongest person in that colony, and everyone knows that. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to eventually need to rely on someone. There’s nothing wrong with taking a helping hand.” Eren reached his hand out toward him and said, “I’m not doing this to gloat, or to rub it in your face. I’m doing it because I know you need me, and that I need you. I’m not going to make it anywhere without you. You know these people, and you’re our best bet of getting out of this situation.”

Levi looked at him. It was hard to question Eren when he had such a sure and sincere look on his face. Levi gave a curt nod and put his hand in Eren’s. The taller man pulled him to his feet, and Levi fought back a wince of pain as the sores on his back stretched. Getting the glass out was going to be nothing short of hell.

Eren had him sit down on a footrest with his back to a window that was letting in natural light. He braced his elbows on his knees and bowed his head, glad that no one was able to see him wincing at the sharp pinches of pain that went straight through him as Eren pulled the shards out of his skin. He gritted his teeth together, trying to keep his mind off the pain. As though Eren was able to read his mind once again, he began speaking.

“So, I get that Kenny’s your uncle, and everything, but how did you get tangled up around here?” he questioned him.

Levi sighed. He figured that Eren would want to know that. Considering that he was in danger because of Levi’s ties to the group, Eren deserved to know the truth.

“Isabel, Furlan and I are from around here,” he told Eren. “This is our home town. More specifically, we all grew up in the slums. It was a cutthroat part of town, and in order to live, everyone had to fight. Most of the time, it was literally. Everyone was poor, money was scarce, and the murder rate was the highest in this area. Eventually people started coming together into groups. It was for protection, and pretty much to make good of a bad situation. It was nice for a while, but then the groups started not getting along, and people began fighting, and things got even worse. Those groups turned into gangs, who declared turfs of the slums. My uncle, Kenny, was the leader of the strongest gang here. He’d been heading it a few years before I was born. He’d lost contact with my mother, and found me after she died. He took me in, and taught me how to fight and defend myself. Eventually, I became his strongest man, and was leading raids against the other turfs, killing their men and taking their supplies. When the world went to shit, nothing really changed in the slums, except the undead were trying to get us instead of the police, and there were more places here that needed to be looted. A year and a half ago, Erwin Smith was a commander in the army, and had heard rumors of a man that killed with ease; a ruthless person that either needed to be executed for killing the remaining humans, or be recruited to help terminate the zombies.”

“That was you?” Eren questioned, snatching another shard of glass out of his back.

Levi nodded. “They came after us when Isabel, Furlan and I were on a run on the other side of the city. Mike was with him along with a few others. The three of us split up, but Furlan and Isabel were caught quickly, and Erwin told me that if I didn’t surrender, they were going to be killed. So, I gave up.”

Eren didn’t say anything for the longest time, apparently digesting the information. The next words out of his mouth made Levi feel heat rising to his cheeks. “I’m glad that he found you. I’d rather have you on my team than anyone else.” A few heartbeats of silence went by before he spoke again. “If you and Erwin knew about the gangs being here, then why did we come out in the first place? It was obviously unsafe.”

“Not obviously,” Levi corrected. “That was a year and a half ago. We were betting on the fact that they had moved on, or had been killed off. Clearly, we were wrong.” Levi really should have known better. Kenny was a genius, after all, and it would take a lot more than just a zombie apocalypse to wipe him out.

“So, now that you guys were obviously wrong,” Eren said, “what are we going to do to get out of here? Do we even have a plan?”

“We lay low here for a little while,” Levi replied. “Don’t give them any grief. Make them relax, and make sure that they almost forget we’re here. Kenny has people watching the door right now. There are probably two armed men, standing in front of the doorway, waiting for us to do something stupid. If we can get them to relax their guard, then we should be okay. The fact that the city is so big works in our favor. I doubt Kenny’s had that many recruits since the apocalypse, and I bet that a few of them have died due to the virus. There’s no way that he has enough of them to search the entire place.”

“This sounds as though most of it is going to be a lot of luck on our part,” Eren replied.

“That’s basically it.” Levi knew why the kid was so apprehensive. They weren’t exactly blessed in the luck department, and he doubted that it would be any better with their future attempt. It didn’t matter, though. They had to do something before Kenny sold Eren off to some random, and potentially dangerous stranger, and executed Levi for betraying him.

“I’m fine with that,” Eren replied. “We can’t win if we don’t fight.”

Levi nodded silently, waiting for Eren to finish picking at his back.

 

_Two weeks later_

Armin was starting to grow more and more nervous every day. Eren and Levi weren’t back yet. He knew that Stohess was a large city, and that it would take a couple of days to thoroughly check, but this was getting to be excessive. Two weeks was too long. That was why he found himself in the Survey building. He was about to interrogate Erwin about this whether the blond man liked it or not. Eren was his best friend and Armin wasn’t above insubordination when it came to his safety.

He knocked on his commander’s door and waited a couple of heartbeats before he heard Erwin’s usual _come in_. Armin opened the door and saw Erwin sitting at his desk, looking over some papers. “Hello, Armin,” Erwin told him pleasantly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“It’s been two weeks,” Armin told Erwin quietly as he shut the door behind him. “You told me their mission wouldn’t last more than one.”

“I know,” Erwin nodded. He pushed the papers that had been in front of him away, and looked at Armin with his hands clasped on the desk. “I’m worried about them too, but there is little that I can do about it.”

“With all due respect,” Armin said, “you’re the commander of the Scouting Regiment. You can do the most out of all of us. Eren and Levi are two of the most proficient fighters in this entire colony. Something bad must have happened for them to be this late.”

Erwin nodded and there was something about the expression on his face that tipped Armin off. “You knew,” he whispered, taking a small step away from Erwin. “You knew that something like this would happen, didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t certain of it,” Erwin started off. Those words didn’t make anything better, if that was what Erwin was trying for. “Levi was aware of what he was stepping into. He promised to protect your friend at all costs. I don’t think that they’re dead.”

“Then why aren’t we going out to help them?” Armin asked, feeling more agitated the more this conversation progressed.

“Just calm down and listen to me before you freak out,” Erwin coached Armin. “I’m working on being able to go and get them, but it’s not something that I want out in the open. There’s a few gangs that were still around over a year ago in Stohess. Levi and I were both betting that they would have been killed off or had moved on by now. Apparently, we were wrong. I’ve been working over the past few days, trying to get together a group of scouts to go after them. I’ve been given clearance by the higher ups just this morning.”

Armin figured that them being allowed to go out and face these gangs wasn’t just because the higher ups were interested in getting Eren and Levi back. It was probably more likely that they were concerned about the potential threats eventually heading toward them and putting their lives in danger. Their reasons weren’t that important to Armin at the moment. All that mattered was that they had been given permission.

“When are we going?” Armin questioned.

“You aren’t going, Armin,” Erwin told him quietly. “It’s one of the reasons why you hadn’t heard anything yet.”

Armin frowned at his commander as he crossed his arms over his chest. He thought for a second, trying to find the best way to speak to his superior without seeming too insolent. “May I ask why I am unable to go?”

“You are a non-expendable genius. You may be intelligent, but your performance in the field leaves a lot to be desired. In short, you are better with strategy than with fighting, and will do nothing but get in the way if you go.” Erwin’s words were not mean or angry. They were just matter-of-fact. There were no emotions behind his reasoning, which made it so much worse.

“You said that it was voluntary,” Armin told him. “Would you really take my right to volunteer to help my friend away from me like that? Isn’t it my choice?”

“I would take it away, and I did,” Erwin told him. “It’s your choice to volunteer, but the final say on who is joining me is my own. I won’t accept it, so don’t waste your time.”

“What is my point in this regiment then?” Armin asked. He was starting to feel a bit angrier. This made no sense to him. He might not be as capable as others out there, but he was a lot more capable than some of the citizens inside the walls of this prison.

“You’re here to follow my orders, Arlert, and assist me when I require it,” Erwin replied. “Don’t try and pull the noble calling line with me. I am all too aware of why you and everyone else is under my command. If you’re really in here to make advancements for the greater good, then listen to me. You’re not expendable, and you won’t go. Don’t be selfish.”

That was the second time that Erwin had told him something like that. He’d told him to get ahold of himself and stop being so selfish when they had been in Ragako. Erwin was adamant about selflessness. It was a value that he seemed to admire above all others. That was one quirk about the man that made Armin curious. Maybe it was a trust thing. Armin always found it easy to trust selfish people more than selfless people. Armin knew what selfish people were capable of, and knew what to expect from them. They were easy to read, and didn’t do anything that would put themselves at risk. They were first and foremost about themselves, which led to very predictable behavior.

“Well, commander,” Armin told him quietly. “Let me know if you change your mind about letting me join.”

“I’m not going to,” Erwin told him. “I know what you’re going to try and do, Armin. You’re a genius; don’t waste it. If Eren’s as good of a friend to you as I think he is, he wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

Armin was silent. Eren hadn’t wanted him to join the Scouting Regiment. Sure, Eren hadn’t argued with him about it, but his friend hadn’t been exactly thrilled when Armin had told him. Armin knew that he was supposed to be selfless, and he normally was, but this was the one and only time that he truly wanted to be selfish. He wanted to go and help his friend. He wanted to be there when Eren was found so that he was able to reassure himself that Eren was safe.

“I just think that it is extremely messed up, sir,” Armin told Erwin as he walked over to the door, not bothering to be dismissed, “that I am the one that is suffering from your miscalculation.”

Before Erwin could open his mouth and comment, Armin was already out of the door. He closed it behind him loudly and walked down the hallway. The front was empty, except for one person. A brunette with a loud presence…in other words Hange. “I’m guessing your talk with Erwin didn’t go too well, huh?”

Armin looked at her with a weak smile. “How could you tell?” he asked.

“Mind reader,” Hange joked. She relented and shrugged, “Normally you don’t look so down when I speak to you.” She walked over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“Erwin won’t let me go,” Armin told Hange quietly. “He’s going on this dangerous mission to get Eren and Levi back, and I’m not allowed to go to save my best friend.”

“You poor thing,” Hange cooed to Armin, making the blond feel reasonably better. Hange might have been on the crazy side, but it still felt good to have someone sympathize with him against jerks in power, like a certain Erwin Smith. She gave him a weak smile and said, “Please don’t be too mad at Erwin, alright? He means well, and doesn’t want you to be hurt. You can understand that, right?”

“I don’t understand what the difference between me putting myself in danger and others doing the same thing is,” Armin told her. Impatience was starting to squirm in his stomach, as Armin started to get the feeling that Hange wasn’t as sympathetic to him as he’d originally thought.

“Erwin may come off as a heartless bastard,” Hange told him, “but he’s not. He has to make tough choices to keep people alive, but he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. You’re a very valuable asset to our division, and Erwin seems to have taken a liking to you. Don’t throw that in his face by acting as though you’re ungrateful that he’s taking your personal life into consideration.”

“I get what you’re trying to say, Hange,” Armin said quietly. He looked down at the ground, unsure whether what the eccentric said made him feel any better about this situation or not.

“Why don’t you go back inside and talk to Erwin again?” Hange asked him. “He’s a good guy and you should give him another chance.”

“I don’t know about another chance,” Armin said quietly. He was only a subordinate after all. “I do want to go and speak with him again, though.” He might have been banned from going out, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t come up with some tactical plan with Erwin to assure himself that as little as possible went wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are looking grim for our characters. Will they make it out in tact? It's pretty sad that you have to worry about humans when zombies are shuffling around. What do you guys think is going to happen next?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi get a large surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

Life majorly sucked. That was something that Eren was certain of as he and Levi lounged around the apartment/prison that Kenny’s lackeys had put them inside of. Eren wanted nothing more than to lash out at the guards that were in front of the door, ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to escape. That’s what he wanted to do, but Levi hadn’t allowed it. He told Eren that they had to keep a low profile. They had to be totally compliant, and unemotional. He wanted the guards to be desensitized to them, so that when it came time for them to spring into action, the guards wouldn’t suspect a thing.

It wasn’t like Levi and Eren were being mistreated. They were totally fine, other than the fact that they were captives. They ate twice a day, and the food wasn’t remarkable, but it wasn’t unbearable either. No one lashed out at them, or attempted to hit them. It was as though they were waiting for Eren or Levi to screw up, so that they could get the chance to attack them. Eren was surprised that there wasn’t more animosity toward Levi, who had to be considered a traitor by the entire colony.

The only explanation that Eren was able to come up with was that Kenny had simply ordered them not to lash out at him. Kenny was a scary man, and if that was the case, Eren hadn’t seen any of Kenny’s subordinates that looked like they were brave enough to take the large Ackerman on.

Eren yawned and stretched out as he woke up from a midafternoon nap. It probably wasn’t the most conventional time to get some shut-eye, but there wasn’t really anything else to do…unless he wanted to mimic Levi and stare at the wall for countless hours, in thought. No thank you. His mind was full of not-so-harmless ideas, that he didn’t really want to dwell on.

Much to Eren’s surprise, Levi was not where he left him earlier. The shorter man was pacing in front of the front door. His hands were behind his back and he looked deep in thought. Eren didn’t want to bother him, but his antsy behavior was starting to make him nervous, and he’d only been out there for a few seconds.

“What’s wrong?” Eren asked. He went for a casual pose, leaning against the edge of the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. He had no idea if Levi would actually buy his nonchalant behavior, but he figured that it would be good enough.

“What makes you think that there’s something wrong, brat?” Levi asked. Eren raised an eyebrow at him, but Levi either didn’t see his expression, or simply ignored it. There was no telling with him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Eren drawled. “Maybe it’s the fact that you won’t sit still.”

Levi didn’t slow down, or stop doing anything that he had been doing before. He just shrugged, and said, “If there was something wrong, it wouldn’t be any of your business, now would it, brat?”

“I’m fairly sure that whose business is whose went out the window the minute that we were abducted,” Eren informed Levi. “If there’s something wrong, I have the right to know.”

“Go back into the bedroom,” Levi snapped at him. He stopped abruptly and gave him a frown so scary that it took everything that Eren had to stand his ground.

“But—”

“ _Now,”_ he hissed at him.

Eren was silent for a moment and just looked at Levi, who looked as though he was about to throw Eren through a wall to put him in the bedroom. Eren sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned around to walk away from the angry man. “Yes, _sir_ ,” he snapped. He couldn’t help but feel like a grounded teenager as soon as he closed the door behind him. That asshole had some nerve, sending him to his room. Who did Levi think that he was? His father, apparently. That caused a pang in Eren’s chest for some reason. That jerk wasn’t that much older than him! Levi looked as though he was in his mid-twenties, and Eren was twenty-two. His hands balled up into fists. Eren was going to go out there and give Levi a piece of his mind…well he would have if the door hadn’t swung open a minute later and admitted a very annoyed short man.

“Exactly how old are you, Jaeger?” Levi snapped at Eren as he walked in and shut the door behind. “Early twenties, right? I couldn’t tell by the way that you were acting like a fucking child back there!”

“Like you’re one to talk, Mr. High-and-Mighty-Asshole!” Eren shot back angrily. “You’re such a dick all of the time! Honestly, we’ve been kidnapped! Do you think you could lay off the angst and sarcasm for like two minutes? We’re both trapped in here, and I can’t take the thought of two enemies at the same time!”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Jaeger,” Levi said gruffly. “You don’t have two enemies. You only have one…a very large, skilled and mean gang that is going to kill us if they get the chance to do so. Unless you want to die, listen up and try and get this through your thick skull.” The entire time that he had been talking, he slowly stalked toward Eren. Eren, to his credit, slowly moved backward, trying to keep away from the scary man, but he inevitably hit a wall. Levi kept moving in, creeping forward like a predator. Eren felt his heartrate increase, and his breathing hitched when Levi finally closed in. He slammed his hands, which were clenched into fists against the wall on either side of his head.

“W-what are you—”

“Shut- _up_ ,” Levi hissed angrily. They were practically nose to nose as Levi continued growling. “Jesus, kid! You need to just listen to me for a minute before you start throwing a tantrum!” Levi’s hand went into his hair and it knotted in the side of his head. He snatched Eren’s head down so that he was facing Levi. The man looked _livid_. Eren wanted nothing more than to get away from him, but there was that small matter of a wall behind him. “I am not your fucking enemy. I want to get out of here as much as you do, but in order for that to happen, you have to trust me. Is that understood?”

Eren looked down at Levi. He understood what the shorter man was saying, but he had no idea if he trusted him or not.

Levi sighed and looked down, obviously annoyed. “Damn it, Jaeger. I’m not here to double-cross you; I’m not here to kill you or to make sure that you don’t get back to the base. I’m here to make sure that you stay alive and keep doing whatever it is that you’re meant to do! I didn’t want to tell you anything while we were out there because there are two guards on the outside of that front door. Didn’t you remember that before you started acting childish and jumped to conclusions, or did you just feel like jumping down my throat for no reason whatsoever?”

Levi had scolded him so thoroughly that Eren felt like a child all over again. All he wanted to do was curl up on himself and hide away from the shame that was igniting a flame throughout his body. Without another word, Levi let go of Eren and took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking every bit as apathetic as before his outburst. If Eren hadn’t seen Levi snap the way that he had, he wouldn’t have believed that the man had been capable of it.

“Erwin and I spoke about this happening the day before we left,” Levi informed Eren. “He agreed that he would wait a little while before coming and looking for us. He estimated two weeks. That’s what’s going on. It’s been two weeks and I haven’t seen or heard anything from this damn prison.”

Eren just looked down at Levi. Was it actually possible that Levi was just anxious? Eren didn’t think that the man felt any human emotions. He guessed that he could very well be wrong. Levi was human, after all, even if he didn’t act like it most of the time.

“I…I’m sorry,” Eren stuttered. He didn’t know what else to say to Levi. He didn’t know if there was anything else to say to the surly man. He’d acted out and Levi hadn’t deserved it this time. It made him feel like a total jackass. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m frustrated…you’re frustrated. I feel like we’re going to end up trying to kill each other soon if we’re not let out.”

“You’re not wrong,” Levi agreed with a sigh. He took yet another step back and said, “Just try and hold out for a little while longer. We won’t be here anymore than that.”

Eren just slowly nodded his head.

 

It happened during the dead of night. Levi had just fallen into an uneasy half-sleep maybe twenty minutes previously. Eren had been knocked out for hours before then, not that Levi really blamed him. If he was able to sleep that way, he’d take full advantage of it too.

It was a low thump that signaled something was off. Levi hadn’t exactly been listening for any alarming sounds, but he was so used to relaxing and still keeping an ear out that his reaction was almost instantaneous. He rolled his feet and looked over at Eren, who was still peacefully passed out on the couch. It was too dark to see any features, but Levi could still tell that he was unconscious from his lack of tension. He rolled his eyes and turned away from the blissfully unaware man. He would wake him if it was anything important.

He crept toward the door and looked out the peephole. He hated that he had to stand on his tip-toes to look outside, but he would be damned if he would wake Eren up to do something because he wasn’t tall enough to do it himself. It was hard to see out in the hallway, but the guards carried electric lanterns with them. It would be a pain to stumble around in the dark, unsure of where the object of what you were guarding was.

At first, Levi didn’t see anything. There was no movement, and nothing gave away that anything was wrong. He knew that his ears hadn’t deceived him. Something was going on outside, but he didn’t know what. Then he saw something…he couldn’t see exactly what it was, but something had quickly moved into and then out of his line of sight. He muttered a curse and tried his best to follow whatever it was.

Then there was a knock on the door. “Levi! Eren! Are you in there?”

Levi looked through the peephole and saw that his ears had heard right. “Hange!” Levi shouted. “Get us the hell out of here!”

“Eren’s in there too?” Hange sounded so happy that it caused Levi to pause.

“Yeah,” Levi called out. “Where else would the brat be?”

There was a sound of a jiggling doorknob and a low click before it swung open. Levi grabbed the door with his hand and leaned forward. He sighed in relief and said, “I’ll get Jaeger. Thanks, Hange.”

“You’re sure that he’s still in here?” Hange asked worriedly. “The people told us that they had already made a trade with some other group for Eren.”

“They must have lied to you,” Levi said. “He’s right in there.” He pointed behind himself with his thumb. Hange followed his gaze and then nodded. Levi turned around and began walking back to the living room. Eren was _still_ asleep. Sometimes Levi wondered about him.

“Levi,” Hange said quietly. He paused and turned around to look at her. “You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine,” Levi replied quietly. He _was_ hurting, but it didn’t matter. He would be fine. He knew that Eren had done the best that he could with the glass in his lower back. It was probably infected, which wasn’t a good thing, but that could be taken care of at a later time.

“You’re not okay,” Hange told him seriously. “You’re moving stiffly. That’s dangerous.”

“I told you I’m fine, Shitty Four-Eyes,” Levi snapped at her.

He could see Eren starting to stir as he walked closer to him. He crouched down and shook him firmly. He felt Eren tense under his fingertips and felt amusement as he shot up. “Wha…”

“Shhhh!” Levi hissed at him. Eren looked over at him. Levi could see his half-lidded eyes in the dim lantern light. He patted him roughly on the face. It made him flinch away, but he seemed a lot more lucid as he straightened up.

“What’s going on?” Eren asked.

“Come on, you two!” Hange hissed.

Eren perked up at the sound of Hange’s voice. “Han—”

“No times for questions,” Levi snapped at him. He grabbed the groggy boy’s wrist and snatched him up. “We have to go!”

Eren stumbled after him, but planted his feet on the ground firmly a few steps forward and pulled them both to a stop. “Let me at least get some shoes on first,” he snapped at him. “That wouldn’t be too much to ask, right?”

Levi rolled his eyes at Eren’s angry request. He was starting to become accustomed to the brunette’s acerbic behavior, and even found it humorous at times. He was very prickly when he was woken up, and Levi figured that he was not a very good morning person.

He let go of Eren’s hands and gestured for him to get on with his preparations. He was suddenly glad that he had omitted taking his shoes off for the past two days. It made getting ready to go even easier. The thought that it had been two days since he’d removed his shoes brought the fact that it had been even longer since he’d showered. He grimaced at this, suddenly feeling even more unclean than he had previously. That was disgusting. The first thing that he was doing when they got out of this hellhole was take a shower. Erwin and those other higher ups would just have to wait for a damned report.

“How long have you guys been here?” Eren asked Hange as he put his feet into his boots and knelt down to tie up the laces.

“A little over an hour,” Hange admitted. “We weren’t spotted until maybe ten minutes ago. Most of it was because we were trying to figure out your location. That was probably the easiest part of this entire mission, I’m sad to say.”

“They’re fighting outside, aren’t they?” Levi asked.

“Of course,” Hange said. “I don’t think that your old boss is going to let the two of you go without a fight. Erwin wants them all exterminated before they could cause any more problems.”

Levi figured that his reasoning wasn’t as selfless as all that. The blond probably just wanted to get them out of the way so that the colony could take the city’s supplies without any interference. It didn’t particularly matter to Levi why Erwin wanted them gone. His back throbbed every time that he moved. Just for that, he wanted to murder all of them. He respected Kenny, but his uncle had betrayed Levi, and that was unforgivable.

Eren stood up and looked at them expectantly. Levi didn’t need to be told again. He gestured for Hange to get a move on, and followed the crazy, four-eyed woman out of the room.

 

Eren was worried about his superior. The raven-haired man was a bull-headed idiot. He knew that because he was the exact same way. They were ten floors above the ground and it took a while getting down. Hange was going slower than she normally would, and Eren was willing to bet that the woman knew that there was something wrong with Levi as well. Eren wanted the surly man to stay out of the fighting, but he knew how well that conversation would go.

Levi didn’t strike Eren as prideful, but Eren figured that the man was so used to having to only rely on himself that he didn’t know how to take a helpful hand or a kind suggestion that was only made with intentions of helping him. Hange didn’t seem to sense this when they got to the bottom floor and she turned around to give Levi the harshest glare that Eren had ever seen come across her face. “Listen to me, you’re a stubborn asshole.”

“We don’t have—”

“Listen! You have no business out there, Levi. You’re injured somewhere on your back. It’s inhibiting your mobility. You need to stay hidden, where you’ll be safe. Do you understand me?”

“I’ll be fine, Four-Eyes!” Levi snapped at her. He tried to push past Hange, but the scientist simply placed her hand against the small of his back; Levi let out a sharp hiss, and his legs almost buckled. “You bitch,” Levi panted, breathing harshly.

“I’m not sorry,” Hange told him seriously. “You’re hurt. I care about you, and so do a lot of other people. None of us are going to be able to focus properly if we know that our friend is trying to fight with a weakness like that. Get over yourself and do what you know is right.”

Eren figured that his input couldn’t hurt that much. “She’s right, Levi. You’re not in good shape and—”

“I didn’t ask you for your opinion!” Levi snapped at him. He turned around to look at Eren with a scary frown. “Shut the hell up, brat!”

“He’s right, Levi,” Hange jumped in. “Quit bullying Eren!” She shook her head and groaned.

“Please,” Eren said. The word sounded foreign on his tongue, and his chest squeezed with pain as he begged. It was so against his nature, that his body was actually hurting. “Damn it. I know that you’re my superior, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to you! I want to continue to serve under you, and I can’t do that if you die! Please see sense and don’t get yourself killed over pride!”

Levi looked at him angrily and Eren though that he was going to jump him for a minute, but then the man’s face actually softened. He was still frowning, but the look seemed a lot less harsh. “Fine…but you’re staying with me, brat. I didn’t just spend two weeks locked up because of you just to lose you now.”

Eren had no idea what that had to do with anything, but he was all too willing to nod in agreement if Levi was willing to not get himself killed. He looked over at Hange, who was beaming, as though she knew exactly what was going on, and what was going through the shorter one’s head. Eren supposed he could ask her about that later when there weren’t lives at stake.

“I’m going to find Erwin,” Hange told them. “You two need to try and make your way over to the western side of the city. There are cars parked next to the overpass. We shouldn’t be too much longer now that you two have been found.”

She bounded off without another word, leaving them both in darkness. Levi sighed and Eren reached out. His hand came in contact with soft flesh, and Eren was willing to bet that it was an arm. Levi didn’t say a word about Eren’s hand. He slid it down until he could feel the other’s rough palm and grabbed on to it. “S…so we won’t get separated,” Eren told him, glad that it was so dark. Levi couldn’t see his face.

“Damn Hange,” Levi cursed. “Why the hell would she take the only light with her?”

“I don’t know,” Eren muttered. “I think I remember the way out, though.” He walked forward and tugged on Levi’s hand. “It’s this way.”

“Lead the way brat,” Levi told him, his voice clearly resigned. Eren suddenly felt self-conscious. Was it really that bad holding his hand? He rolled his eyes and shook his head. This was so not the time to be thinking about any of those thoughts. He needed to focus on this mission.

Eren struggled, for lack of a better word, to find the exit. He hit more walls than he cared to admit, and had a few bruises from the run ins. At least Levi didn’t give him a smartass comment. He figured that he was one off remark away from snapping with the week that he’d had.

Eren sighed in relief as he found a wide doorway. “I think that we just came into the lobby.” There was faint light coming through windows, allowing just a silhouette of a counter to reach his eyes. He had no idea when his sense of direction had become so sharp, but he wasn’t complaining.

They made it to the entrance and Eren let out a sigh of relief. They stepped out of the open doorway and loud screams, grunts of exertion, and clanking of steel on steel met his ears. He had no idea how he hadn’t registered the noise before, but now that it was in his ears, he doubted that they would ever stop ringing from it. He saw some faintly familiar people in duels against the thugs that had captured them, and felt the urge to run forward and help them out.

“I don’t know what you think that you’re doing,” Levi snapped at him, “but don’t do it. We have a deal, Eren. I’ll stick to it as long as you do. Understood?”

Eren stiffened slightly, and suddenly remembered that they were holding hands. It was no longer dark enough for them to require it, but neither of them had thought to let go. A part of him wanted to blush like a complete idiot, but he held himself in check. It wasn’t time for him to start doing stupid things. Lives depend on him not screwing up. _If only my parents could see me now,_ Eren thought dryly.

“Fine,” Eren sighed.

He was about to drop Levi’s hand and start moving to the west of Sheena, like Erwin had instructed, when someone with a horrible, loud voice called, “Hey! The runt and his brat are out!”

Eren doubted that there were any more short men with a younger companion out of confinement. He sighed as he realized that this night was not going to be easy by any means. No less than three heads snapped in the direction of the apartment complex that they had just exited…in the direction that they were still standing.

“ _Shit_!” Levi cursed under his breath. He moved a step forward and dropped Eren’s hand…or at least tried to. Eren clasped on to it and dragged him back again.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Eren snapped as he started dragging Levi down the sidewalk at a quick jog. “We’re getting out of here because of that deal. You still remember it?”

“You ever hear about insubordination, brat?” Levi snapped at him angrily.

Eren knew that if he looked behind him, he wouldn’t be able to handle the glare that the man was giving him. The only reason why he was able to win this fight in the first place was because Levi was honestly too weak to snatch his hand out of Eren’s grip. The thought was comforting and scary at the same time. “I will follow any other order you give me, sir!” Eren told him. “I will not just stand around and watch you get yourself killed! I’d apologize for it, but I’m not sorry!”

He couldn’t hear what Levi’s reply was, but he guessed it wasn’t too angry since he wasn’t being hit over the back of the head. They made it to the end of the road without anyone chasing them and Eren moved to turn right when Levi snatched him backward. Eren turned around and looked. He swallowed the urge to say something snarky, knowing that they didn’t have the time for him to be immature.

“What?” he asked.

“Doesn’t it seem just a little weird that _no one_ chased us down here?” Levi questioned. “Someone even yelled out that we’d escaped, and people looked over and saw us. It’s a trap.”

“Then what do we do now?” Eren demanded angrily. He knew that Levi was just pointing this out because the shorter man wanted to be captured again as much as Eren did, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t annoyed by the obvious remark.

“Move carefully,” Levi told him sternly. “Don’t do anything that I don’t tell you to do.” He looked at Eren with the most serious face that Eren had ever seen on him, which was saying a lot. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Eren nodded. He wasn’t exactly in a hurry to get caught again. He figured that sticking with Levi, who seemed to know what he was doing, was a good way to keep himself in check.

“Good. Follow me, brat.”

Levi swiftly moved around the corner. It shocked Eren how fast the man was moving. He was impressed. Eren moved after him, trying his best to match every move that his superior made. There was nothing on the street. No one was in sight, and Eren was fairly certain that it was too dark for a sniper to take them down in the trees considering they were using bows and arrows.

They rushed down the road and took another couple of turns. They weren’t going the same way that Eren remembered going, but he didn’t argue with Levi about their destination. If anyone knew where they were going, it would be the person that lived there before the apocalypse happened. Eren frowned uncertainly as he followed Levi into an alleyway, and felt even more apprehensive as he realized that there was a brick wall at the end, blocking their path.

Levi turned around to face him. He must have seen the look on Eren’s face because he just sighed impatiently and snapped, “I didn’t bring you here to kill you. If I wanted you dead, I would have just killed you in the apartment.”

“Then why are we here?” Eren asked. He didn’t argue with what Levi told him. It made sense to him.

Levi didn’t answer, and he didn’t have to. Eren heard footsteps moments later and sighed. He figured that this was the trap that Levi had foreseen. “How many?” he asked.

“At least five,” Levi told him. Eren scratched the back of his head. They had no weapons, and they weren’t in the best of shape. The thugs had skills that had been acquired longer than the past couple of years, and probably enough weapons to fill a couple of arsenals. Eren might have felt as though they were doomed if Levi wouldn’t have been on his side. They could win a fight against five street rats. Of that, he was certain, but he wasn’t certain if they could do much damage against any more of them than that. He didn’t feel like pushing their luck after everything that they’d been through in the past couple of weeks.

Honestly, if the people inside of the walls could hear the inner workings of his mind, Eren was fairly certain that they would never doubt his loyalty again. He was too damn confused to be a traitor.

Levi must have caught something that Eren didn’t, because he took a step forward. Eren went to follow him, and felt a hand roughly shove into his sternum, pushing him backward. Eren stumbled a few steps and scowled at Levi, who just kept walking. The shorter man hadn’t said anything, but his actions spoke clearly enough. Eren just gritted his teeth and stood his ground, curious as to what the captain had in mind.

Levi got to the mouth of the alleyway and reached his hand out. Eren saw him yank his arm back and there was a person connected to his clenched fist. The man was in his mid-twenties, but his arms were flailing around like he was a toddler, throwing a temper tantrum. Levi slung him unceremoniously to the ground and Eren heard the air disappear from his lungs before he saw Levi being his foot down over the man’s face. Eren heard a crunching noise and grimaced in sympathetic pain.

The man stilled, and Eren had no idea if he was dead or just knocked out and would wake up later wishing that he had died. Eren didn’t know firsthand how hard Levi kicked, but observing it made him hurt enough. “Where’d Duran go?” someone snapped out in the street.

Eren looked down at the unmoving man and figured that he was Duran. Well, considering that their comrade wouldn’t be able to answer them for quite a while, if at all, Eren figured that they would be turning around and looking for him. He wanted to snap at Levi for leading them to their hiding location like he did, but he knew that the man probably had a reason for his decision. Eren walked forward and Levi turned to look at him, as though silently snapping at him to get back. Eren, of course, ignored this and continued to walk forward until they were standing side-by-side. They would get through this together, or not at all.

“I really hate you sometimes, kid,” Levi muttered to him as the sound of footsteps became louder.

“The feeling’s totally mutual, Levi,” Eren replied back to him just as lowly. He tensed slightly, getting ready for a brawl. If he was being honest with himself, he would be all too happy to get his hands dirty. He hadn’t realized exactly how annoyed he was with the thugs with keeping him and Levi held up like they had.

The first man came through the alleyway, and that was all it took for Eren to realize why Levi had given away their location. He was choosing the place to be attacked instead of it being the other way around. He didn’t want to be attacked out in the open, where they could be surrounded. He’d chosen a spot where they could only come in pairs at the most, and even then, they were too crowded to really put up a good fight against someone as small and agile as Levi.

Eren felt clumsy and unrefined compared to the shorter man, but he made up for it when he grabbed the second man that rushed in. Levi attacked the first, tripping him before he pounced and slammed the back of the man’s head on the concrete, bashing it in so hard that blood started pooling around him in seconds. Eren slammed the man into the wall and immediately reached for his opponent’s waist, snatching their knife out of its sheath and slicing it toward the owner, slitting their throat with ease. Eren let the man drop, blocking the fact that he had taken a human life for the first time from his mind. He would take in that traumatic experience when he had more time.

He turned around in time to catch the last two guys. He had no idea where Levi was, and couldn’t even think about that as horrible pain registered in his lower back. The two thugs had slammed him up against the brick wall so hard that he was surprised that his vertebrae hadn’t been damaged…or at least he hoped that they weren’t. The air violently left his lungs in a great _whoosh!_ His knees gave out, and he would have fell to the cement floor if the larger of the two thugs hadn’t grabbed on to him by his shirt.

Then, the hold on him was gone. He coughed as he slid to the ground, his head slumped forward, trying to focus on anything other than the throbbing pain that was starting to spread through his body. He looked up from his lap and saw that the two thugs that had ran at him were laying in pools of blood around him. Their throats had been slit wide open, and blood was still pouring out of the new wounds. He looked up even more and saw that Levi was standing over him. He had blood on his hands, and was looking down at it in obvious distaste.

He looked away from his hands and over at Eren. “Are you okay, brat?” he asked him.

He’d managed to restore enough wind back into his lungs to reply. “I think so. How the hell are you so fast?”

“That wasn’t fast,” Levi told him curtly, not answering his question at all. Levi was totally lying. He’d moved so quickly that Eren hadn’t been able to register what had happened until a few seconds after it was all over. That scared him, but what frightened him more than anything was that Levi was _hurt._ Obviously, that wasn’t nearly as fast as the shorter man was capable of moving. This was the man that Eren butted heads with constantly. This total badass could probably take Eren out without even breathing hard. He had never in his life been so happy that someone was after the same thing that he was.

“You sure that you’re okay?” Levi asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m fine,” Eren told him, scrambling to his feet as though to show Levi.

“Good,” he said. “Let’s go, then.”

Eren nodded and silently followed Levi as the shorter turned toward the mouth of the alleyway and began walking back to the road. Despite the shadows that shrouded everything, Eren felt fairly confident that they were safe again. Nothing seemed to make him weary, but his intuition was nowhere near Levi’s level. That was why he kept glancing at him, trying to figure out if the seasoned veteran sensed that there was anything wrong.

“Is there something on my face,” Levi finally snapped at him maybe ten minutes into their uninterrupted trek to the other side of the town.

“Uh…” Eren said stupidly. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to him.

Levi rolled his eyes, clearly not needing a coherent answer. He just sighed and snapped, “Come on, brat.” They turned a corner and were greeted by the sight of trees. Levi let out a sigh, and Eren wondered if the shorter man was tired. It was a good possibility, considering his condition.

Levi walked toward the tree line, but as soon as he passed over the threshold, Eren saw his knees buckle, and the shorter man collapsed to the ground. He grunted once he landed, but other than that, there was no response. Eren inhaled sharply and rushed forward. He knelt down beside his superior and rolled him over so that Levi was laying on his back. His eyes were closed and his entire body was completely limp. The only thing that reassured him was that Levi’s chest was still steadily rising and falling.

Eren cursed and grabbed underneath Levi’s arms and hefted him into a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around the shorter man and lifted him, tossing him over his shoulder. He winced as Levi’s weight settled on top of him. The little man was a lot heavier than he looked. “God,” he snapped, knowing that Levi couldn’t hear him, “what the hell do they feed you?”

He silently prayed that he was going the right way as he started stumbling through the trees. He didn’t know what else to do, other than walk forward. It wasn’t like Levi was awake to tell him. Sure, he’d been to Stohess before, but it wasn’t as though this was his hometown. He’d never been in the forest before. He hadn’t even known that there was a place to bring a vehicle in there.

 _Why now?_ Eren snapped silently to himself. _Why couldn’t Levi wait like five more minutes to knock out?_ He figured that it was the relief of seeing their safe haven that had allowed him to just pass out.

Eren’s heart sank every time that he heard a twig break, or leaves rustle. He didn’t know what he would do if an enemy showed up at a time like this. He would sooner die than leave one of his comrades behind, but he figured that he wasn’t exactly well equipped to deal with an enemy. Besides, he didn’t know if he could stomach the thought of killing another person.

He flinched as the sound of wood snapping hit his ears for what had to be the tenth time. Rustling leaves followed right after. The noise was getting closer, and it sounded suspiciously like human footsteps. Eren closed his eyes and cursed. They could never get a break, could they? Someone was closing in on them, and Eren had no idea where they were, so he couldn’t run. He looked around desperately for something to use, and came up with nothing. He swallowed nervously as a silhouette suddenly became visible in the faint moonlight.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait. I just haven't had time to update. I won't keep anymore of your time with this. Please enjoy the chapter!

“I’m glad to see that you made it!” Armin’s voice hit his ears, and Eren sighed in relief. He sagged forward slightly and laughed hysterically. “Oh god, Armin. You scared the hell out of me!”

The shorter blond smiled sheepishly at Eren as he rushed forward. “Sorry about that. What happened to Levi?”

“Don’t know,” Eren said, frowning. “He was fine a couple of minutes ago. He collapsed out of nowhere.”

“I’ll help you carry him,” Armin offered. Eren just shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Just show me where I can put him down.” Armin nodded rapidly and turned around. He hurriedly walked through the trees, leaving Eren to scramble after him. They trekked through the forest for a few hundred yards, and Eren winced when the slope started to steepen. By the time that they made it to a small clearing with a few vehicles in the middle, he was sweating and gasping for air.

Armin opened one of the doors and Eren quickly set Levi down. The shorter man just sprawled limply in the seat, his mouth hanging open slightly. The appearance would have been cute if it weren’t for the reason he was like this in the first place. Eren looked him over worriedly until he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. “You worrying isn’t going to help him,” Armin told him quietly. “Just relax. Everyone will be back soon, and we can leave.”

“We’re going to have to kill all of them,” Eren said quietly. The words themselves caused an ache to squeeze his heart and he closed his eyes sadly. “If we don’t, they’ll just follow us back to where we came from.”

“People from all around are aware of where we are,” Armin told Eren. “They don’t mess with us because we’re too well fortified. Don’t worry about pursuers.”

 

Armin was correct. The others started showing up quickly. They all trickled in, coming to the clearing in small groups ranging from two to five people. They took well over an hour to all come together, and Hange was one of the last people to come in, much to Eren’s disappointment. She waltzed in, and beamed at Eren, who smiled weakly back. She bounded away from Erwin and Moblit’s side and came to a stop right in front of Eren before gathering him in an unexpected and tight hug. He grunted and awkwardly patted her back, unsure of what to do.

“Where’s the munchkin?” Hange asked as she backed away from him.

Eren grimaced at the mention of Levi and silently pointed to the back of the SUV that he’d set the shorter man in. “He passed out. Can you look at him?”

Hange looked very surprised at this news, but nodded and quickly moved nonetheless. “That’s a pretty big knot on the side of his head,” Hange observed quietly. She was leaned over Levi, blocking Eren’s view of his superior. He had no idea what she was doing to him, but had faith in the eccentric woman to fix him up as best as she could. “He must have hit his head when he fell.”

“It was probably on a tree stump,” Eren told her quietly. He hadn’t thought of checking him over for any bumps or bruises. He doubted that Levi would have appreciated the sentiment anyway. “He collapsed when we got into the forest.”

“He doesn’t seem to be in any physical danger,” Hange told him. “He’s cool to the touch, so there’s not a fever. He’s responding somewhat to pain. The only thing that we can do is wait for him to wake up, I’m afraid. I’m sure that he’s okay, though.”

Eren nodded in understanding. He figured that they were all adults here, and Hange wouldn’t be saying that just to make Eren feel better.

“Alright,” Erwin called. “That’s every group. Let’s go.”

Eren climbed into the seat of the SUV that Levi was in, and supported the man so that he was sitting up instead of laying down. When Levi looked as though he was about to slump forward and fall off the seat, Eren just sighed and adjusted him so that Levi was leaning against him, resting his head on Eren’s shoulder. Armin walked to the other side of the SUV and clambered inside on the other side of Levi. Everyone was silent as the doors closed and the cars took off.

They made it back to the highway without any problems, making Eren wonder what they had done to everyone that was in Kenny’s gang and to Kenny himself. They all must have been hurt badly, because there was no way that Kenny would let a stunt like this go without a retaliation. Eren sighed and grimaced at the thought. There was no way that they had seen the last of Levi’s uncle, and he had a feeling that the next encounter would be very, very bloody.

 

Armin grimaced as Erwin walked past him without saying a word. He had a feeling that the repercussions of his little stunt weren’t going to be fun at all. He sighed and lowered his head to the ground. They had just made it back to the community. The sun was already rising, and he was exhausted, even though he hadn’t done any fighting. He looked around at all of the soldiers that were hobbling out of the vehicles. They looked like they were in a lot of pain. Some of them were holding up injured arms, or pressing down on painful wounds.

Armin moved to go toward the infirmary; he would help them all out as much as he could. “Not so fast, Arlert,” Hange said cheerily. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and steered him in the other direction.

“What?” Armin asked, before he realized that he’d probably sounded very disrespectful. He stuttered, trying to correct himself, but Hange just waved it off.

“Erwin wants to speak to you,” she told him. “You didn’t think you were off the hook that easily, did you?”

“No,” Armin sighed wearily. “I didn’t. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t be so soon. I’d be able to handle it a lot better if I had some sleep first.”

“I know that,” Hange told him sympathetically. “I’m sure that Erwin does too, but you have to realize that the commander hasn’t had any sleep either. He probably wants to get this over with just as much as you do.”

Armin just shook his head at Hange. She spoke about the man as if he was human. Erwin certainly didn’t act human to him. “He’s not human. He doesn’t need sleep like the rest of us.”

Hange actually let out an amused giggle. “That’s adorable! I’m sure Erwin would like that one. His cadets don’t think that he’s human! Trust me sweetheart. Erwin’s just a human as the rest of us…probably even more so.”

Armin let the argument go, not feeling motivated enough to continue it. He looked away from Hange, who was still chuckling lowly.

“Listen, Armin,” Hange said, her voice a bit gentler. “I know that you think that Erwin is just some kind of machine; heck, I even suspect it at times, but it’s not true. He just doesn’t let it show. He’s the only one that’s capable of leading us the way that he does. If he started acting like he was human and showed remorse and sadness and concern, he wouldn’t be able to do his job. He has to look out for the greater good of _everyone_. You directly disobeyed him, that can’t go by without at least addressing it. Erwin’s fond of you, though. I can tell by the way that he acts around you. He won’t be too harsh. I promise.”

Armin nodded, actually feeling a lot better from Hange’s probably empty words. Intellectually, Armin knew that there was no way for Hange to know if Erwin would be hard on him or not, but it still made him feel a bit warmer inside. He turned away from the eccentric and walked toward the Survey Building. He wanted to go to sleep so badly. If he could just get through this, he could find his bed and curl up in it. He didn’t plan on waking up until later on that night.

That imagery was what got him to the headquarters and down the hallway to Erwin’s room. He walked inside without knocking, not in the mood for any sort of formalities. Erwin was hunched over his desk, looking down at the wood. He was resting his head in his hands, and it was the most human pose that he had ever seen the blond in. He looked up at Armin, and he immediately composed himself behind a business-like façade.

“Knock next time,” he told Armin shortly before gesturing for him to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. Armin silently did so. He hoped that his compliance would convince Erwin to let him get out of there earlier. Erwin stood up and looked at Armin with his hands clasped behind his back. Armin looked straight back and could feel the nervousness bubbling in his gut. “I did not want to talk to you about this in front of the others. I do not like to embarrass anyone, but don’t think that means that you’re off the hook. You disobeyed a direct order, Arlert. You snuck into the trunk of the car and rode out to Stohess. Do you understand the gravity of this situation?”

“I know that I disobeyed a direct order, but I refuse to apologize,” Armin said. Sure, he was tired, but sleep could wait. This was a matter of morals and he was not about to lecture Armin on this. “You forbade me from going on a mission to save my best friend! Eren is like a brother to me, and he means more than any military ties do! I understand that you’re the ones that are keeping us alive, but I’d rather be dead than live without my family. Nothing that you do or say will make me regret it!”

Erwin looked at him, his blue eyes startled. Armin could tell that the man hadn’t expected for Armin’s strong reaction. “You do understand that I can completely relieve you of duty, right?”

“I don’t want to serve under someone so callous anyway,” Armin shrugged it off. “Are you even human? Do you feel anything for the others around you? What’s the point of fighting for humanity? I was comparing you to a machine, but at least they can be programmed to show something. You don’t even do that! You’re like the undead that are walking around outside of the walls! You might as well go ahead and join the Titans!”

“Arlert—”

“Just answer me!” Armin snapped, knowing that if he let Erwin speak now, he would never get his answer. He would be turned around and probably kicked out of the entire colony. If that was going to happen because he stepped out of line, then he had nothing to lose and he might as well get his answers now. “Do you have any emotions at all? Are you actually that cold?”

“I’m not like the Titans,” Erwin told him quietly. “You are dismissed for now, Arlert. I’ll speak to you again when I feel as though you have regained your damned mind. Now go.”

Armin didn’t say a word as he did what he was told. A part of him was mentally berating himself for being so brash. Another part of him, however, was excited. Erwin had sounded genuinely displeased. Sure, he had been upset with Armin, but it had been _something_. Maybe the commander was human somewhere underneath all of the façade that reminded Armin so much of the bumbling Titans.

He walked toward the survey regiment’s barracks with a sleepy smile on his face. He knew that he was going to be in a lot of trouble, and seriously kicking himself when he woke up, but he could live with that. At least he hoped that he would be able to.

 

It had been a few days since those bastards had pillaged through Kenny’s city. He was still nursing his wounds and an even larger resentment. He wanted to find Erwin Smith and his traitorous nephew and run them both through with shards of glass. It would be a fitting end for them, to go out in as much pain as Kenny could cause. It was no more than what they deserved, being so disrespectful to him. Kenny was a powerful man, even in the zombie apocalypse, and it wouldn’t do for him to be disrespected.

“Reiss is here,” a voice called from behind the door of his office. He had ordered all of his men to bury the dead, and make sure that the corpses stayed unanimated. They had been told not to come and get him unless it was an emergency. They must have caught on to the fact that he was not in a good mood, and the man didn’t want Kenny to know who he was in case he decided to inflict a punishment on the messenger. Kenny clasped the bridge of his nose, suddenly wishing that the man would have come into the office. He would have reached across the table and throttled him just to get rid of some of this anger.

Rod Reiss was the largest pain in his ass that he had ever known. He wanted nothing more than to kill that pathetic sack of meat, but he would not because of the man’s older brother. Kenny had respect for the man and didn’t want to upset Uri by slaughtering him. Uri was a gentle man that earned the respect of his peers, and had been one of Kenny’s best friends before the world had gone to hell.

Kenny just sighed and stood up. Sometimes men had to do what they didn’t really want to do. He held back a grimace and folded his face into a blank mask. He didn’t want the idiot to pick a fight with him, because it wouldn’t turn out well at all. He figured looking unthreatening was the way to go. He stalked out of his office, noting that the messenger was long gone, and walked out of the small business building that he had claimed for himself. He saw the familiar sight of Rod Reiss standing on the side of the road, with his arms over his chest. He looked over in Kenny’s direction and smiled.

“There’s my favorite hitman!” Rod called cheerily. The oblivious idiot had no idea how much he detested him. It was pathetic. Kenny just nodded curtly and looked at Rod with a raised eyebrow. “You said that you had something for us,” Rod told him. “Where is it?”

“It’s been compromised,” Kenny told him with a noncommittal shrug. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it back.”

“No,” Rod told him. “I respect you, Kenny, but the ability of your henchmen leaves something to be desired. I’d much rather put faith into my own men. We’ll pick up the Jaeger boy. Just tell me where he is.”

“I will on one condition,” Kenny said lowly. He would never deny Uri something that he wanted, but he was curious about some things that his friend had never told him. “How do you know about the Jaeger boy? You seemed to know what he was capable of before we even told you.”

“His father,” Rod told him. “I knew his father, and Eren was injected with something that fused with his blood a certain way…” Rod shook his head and sighed. “I’m no genius, and I don’t know the exacts of it all. We have some scientists, though that could probably figure out a lot from the boy.”

“That’s all he is,” Kenny told Rod seriously. “I don’t condone hurting children for no reason.”

“You and Uri are too much alike,” Rod waved off the comment with a roll of his eyes. “He’ll be sacrificed for the greater good. It’s either this one kid, or every other kid on this planet, because most of them aren’t going to have what it takes to survive for much longer. You and I both know that.”

“Fine,” Kenny sighed. “They’re in Rose Gated Community,” he said. “You know the one that was taken over by that military asshole, Smith, and his mad scientist buddy. He was in there.”

“Ah,” Rod nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. “I see.”

“Good luck getting him out of that one,” Kenny told Rod truthfully. “The kid has one hell of a bodyguard.” Kenny could tell just by the way that Eren and Levi had been around one another that they would do what it took to survive and to make sure that the other survived as well. He had no idea what was going on in between them, or if there was anything going on at all, but he still wouldn’t mess around with them. Erwin had been too bold to rescue some kid and his big-mouthed nephew. Captain America had something up his sleeve, and Kenny was curious to see what it was.

 

“You’re awake!” Hange’s ecstatic voice hit his ears before he had time to even open his eyes. Part of him wondered how she had known that he was conscious, but he didn’t ask. It would probably end up leading to her admitting that she had been watching him sleep, which would be a lot creepier than he was willing to deal with.

“Shut up, Four Eyes,” Levi groaned quietly. “I’m not in the mood!”

“You should feel refreshed,” Hange told him with a giggle. “You were knocked out for long enough.”

Levi frowned as he slowly opened his eyes. He wearily turned his head toward the eccentric and saw that she was beaming down at him. The sight was so bright that he wanted to close his eyes all over again and just dive back into unconsciousness. That was a part that he was also afraid of. Exactly how long had he been asleep?

“Five days,” Hange told him. Her voice was a bit quieter and more subdued. Levi frowned at her sudden change in temperament. This wasn’t like his eccentric four eyes at all.

“What’s wrong?” Levi asked her.

“Well,” Hange said quietly as she looked around the room, refusing to meet his gaze. “A few of the people around here were really worried about you. You weren’t doing so good with the infection that was spreading from your back, and some of them thought that you weren’t going to make it.”

Levi was silent, realizing that Hange meant herself when she said _others._ He felt a strange warmth take a hold of his chest. He felt almost touched that Hange thought enough of him to be worried when something happened to him. He guessed that she had really turned into one of his friends. He couldn’t find it in himself to feel upset about this either, even though he probably should. Hange was all sorts of crazy, and he figured that her inability to say no to risky situations wasn’t going to merit a long and prosperous life.

“I heard some commotion from outside,” Furlan’s sleepy voice hit his ears. Levi turned and saw his friend, with his blond hair sticking up all over the place. It was obvious that he had just woken up.

There was a loud yawn, and when Furlan stepped even farther into the room, he saw that Isabelle was behind him stretching as well. She smacked her lips together noisily as she scratched through the red hair on the back of her head as her eyes moved to rest on Levi. A sleepy smiled tugged at the corners of her lips. “It’s about time, mister,” she sighed, suddenly looking a lot more awake. “I thought you weren’t ever going to wake up. Me and Furlan have been camping out here for the past four nights! We had to convince Eren to go back to his barracks because there wasn’t enough room here for everyone.”

Levi was silent through his scolding. He had no idea what to say to her. Had everyone honestly been that worried about him? He felt his throat close up with an emotion that he didn’t recognize.

“Uh…” he trailed off ineloquently.

Furlan seemed to realize his discomfort and swooped in to save the day. “Quit harassing him, Izzy,” he scolded her. “He’s probably still worn out. You can yell at him later when he’s back on his feet.” He smiled at Levi and asked, “How are you feeling, man?”

“Like hell,” Levi answered truthfully. He shrugged after a moment, however, and said, “I’m fine, though. I feel a lot better than I did before I passed out.”

“That’s good to hear,” Hange said cheerfully. She looked down at her watch and her smile seemed to twitch a bit, becoming even larger, as though she found something amusing. There was no tell what that would be with her. “We’re due for another guest at any second.”

Furlan and Isabelle both started smiling wider. “I don’t know what you did, Levi,” Furlan told him quietly, “but you’ve earned his permanent respect. I’m pretty sure that man would follow you into the depths of hell and not bat an eye.”

“That’s…” Levi trailed off uncertainly. “Who are you talking about?”

Furlan gave him an exasperated look, as though he was supposed to already know the answer…like it was supposed to be obvious. A door flew open without any preamble, and Levi could see Hange in his peripheral, pumping her fist as though she had been right about something. “Has anything changed…” Eren’s inquiry trailed off as he looked down at where Levi was laying with wide eyes.

“What, brat?” he asked him nonchalantly. Eren walked fully into the room, just staring down at him with blatant awe. Levi felt slightly uncomfortable under Eren’s strong gaze, but he didn’t say anything about it. He just stared back. He felt as though they had a mutual understanding. There was something about going through something like they did that caused a bond to form.

Levi saw Isabelle, Hange and Furlan all retreat from the room, closing the door behind them, completely isolating him and Eren. He wanted to frown at the others for leaving them behind for no reason, but part of them was glad that they had. He felt as though there were some things that he and Eren needed to talk about that no one else needed to be around to see.

“I’m so happy that you’re alright,” Eren gushed quickly. He started smiling, but there was something off about it. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t do a better job on your back. It’s the reason—”

“You did the best that you could with what little supplies that you had,” Levi cut him off. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened. It wasn’t you. None of this was you.” It was his bastard of an uncle, and Levi planned on paying him back in full for what he put him and Eren through.

Eren’s face didn’t change and Levi scowled. He didn’t want to see guilt on the brat’s face. It made him uncomfortable and aggravated, especially since Eren had no reason to be so upset. “Seriously, brat,” Levi snapped. He didn’t know what else to say to him for the stupid kid to know that he had nothing to be sorry about. “There’s nothing else that you could have done. I should be thanking you…you saved my life.”

“I didn’t—”

“Stop,” Levi cut him off impatiently. “You saved me. Just take the thank you and go with it…you probably won’t ever hear it again from me.”

“Fine,” Eren sighed. Levi could tell by the furrow of his eyebrows and the downward turn of his lips that he was in no way appeased with what had happened. He had a feeling that his condition was what was stopping him from arguing any further. Part of that bothered Levi, but he would take it if the kid would just accept what he was trying to say. It was just baby steps.

“Have I missed anything important?” Levi inquired, trying to steer the subject away from them. It was a bit rocky still and the discomfort was suffocating.

Eren perked up, apparently as happy about the obvious change of subject as he was. “The higher ups are still watching us closely,” Eren reported. “Apparently, I’ve been relieved of suspicion, but Erwin doesn’t trust it. He thinks that they are trying to find some dirt on the entire regiment as a whole. They want to disband us.”

That wasn’t anything new to Levi, but it certainly was annoying. He just scowled at this and rolled his eyes. There was a group of people that were higher ups that believed that no more missions should be sent out. They wanted to focus on making the settlement even stronger, and that was it. That was one of the dumbest things that Levi had ever heard, and he had been around his fair share of idiots in Stohess’ underground. Why would anyone want to fortify a cage? It would just lead to—

He shook the thought off. He could mentally rant about idiots all day if he was able to. Sadly, that was not his job description. “That sounds normal. How were the casualties?”

Eren’s face darkened again almost immediately. Levi immediately regretted asking him, but there was no avoiding it. He needed to know how many people had died to save him and Eren because he had been a reckless idiot.

“Thirty people,” Eren said quietly. “We don’t know if they are all dead, but there are thirty people missing from the ranks. We don’t know if the entire gang was wiped out or not. We know that there were survivors on the other side, but no one can confirm killing Kenny…and no one that came back reported engaging in combat with him.”

Levi knew what Eren was trying to say without saying it. Levi just shut his eyes for a minute, collecting himself. “It was a gamble,” Levi told him quietly. “You weren’t in on it…no one was but me and Erwin.”

“I know,” Eren replied, his voice just as low. “Erwin told me why things happened the way that they did. I told him everything…I…. I don’t blame you for what happened. They were bad people and would have eventually came at us if we didn’t try and fix the problem before it happened. Sometimes we don’t win every battle.”

The calm way that Eren spoke told Levi that Erwin had not explained everything to him. The blond had omitted some very important facts from Eren, probably to spare him the anxiety. Levi didn’t exactly agree with it. Eren needed to be anxious. Kenny was in league with the same people that Eren’s dad was. They probably knew something about Eren’s immunity, and something told him that Eren was not supposed to be the way that he was. Nothing good was going to come of this.

He was going to have to talk to Erwin and soon. Eren seemed to realize that there was something wrong. “You look angrier than normal,” Eren told him. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Levi said quickly, immediately composing himself. He hadn’t been up long enough to really be around people yet, so he wasn’t as able to mask his facial features as he normally was. “Just get me Erwin.”

There must have been something off with his face or his voice, because Eren stood immediately and nodded curtly. He turned around and walked out of the room without another word. Isabel stuck her head into the room a moment later and looked at him with a frown. “What did you do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“He just walked out!” Isabel snapped at him. “The poor guy has been worried sick about you for over five days! How could you do that to him?”

“I just told him to go and get Erwin,” Levi shot back, suddenly uncomfortable. Why was she getting on his case? He hadn’t done anything. She was almost as strange as Hange and it was nearly impossible to get into her mindset. It threw him off and made him very uncomfortable. What was wrong with women?

“You two are so adorable!” Hange gushed, waltzing into the room. Furlan was right behind her, his hand pinching the bridge of this noise. He casted Levi an apologetic look, as though trying to silently tell him that he had tried to put a stop to all of this madness. Levi didn’t blame him. Putting a leash on the two of them was impossible. He had stopped trying a long time ago.

“I’m am _not_ adorable,” Levi snapped at Hange. There was a lot of things that he would take from the eccentric quietly. Being called adorable was not one of them. He was a man, and men weren’t adorable. “And who do you mean by _you two?_ ”

Hange grinned but didn’t say anything. He hated that look; it was like she knew something important that he wasn’t privy to. He just rolled his eyes and muttered underneath his breath about her being an asshole. Furlan was looking at Levi until Levi looked at him. The blond immediately looked elsewhere, his cheeks tinting red. “Tch.” He wanted to ask Furlan what the hell Hange was on about, since he obviously knew, but didn’t want to seem too interested.

“You wanted to see me?” Erwin was in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe casually. It was as though he had been there the entire time. Levi doubted it.

“Yeah,” Levi said. “Can you guys give us a few minutes?” It was meant to be a question, but his tone of voice left little room for refusal. They all quickly turned around and left the room. Levi could hear Isabel and Hange laughing quietly as the door shut behind him. He gritted his teeth, trying to convince himself that the sound was not at his expense, but he knew that it was.

Erwin sat down on the chair next to his bed and smiled at him. “I’m glad to see that you’re doing better. Hange says that you’ll make a full recovery. You’ll be back in the field in a couple of weeks, and then we can—”

“Cut the formalities,” Levi cut him off. “You already know that I didn’t call you in here for pointless small talk.”

“Then why—”

“Jaeger is clueless,” Levi snapped at him angrily. “You want to tell me why you haven’t told him about the Reiss family yet? Of all people, he deserves to know. They’re going to try and come after him. Kenny knows about his abilities, and that means that they do too. My uncle knows where this place is. We’re sitting ducks for them! We can’t hand over Eren! He’s the only chance humanity has for this cure, and you know it! He needs to be on his guard. He needs to know that there are people out there that want him dead!”

“Eren is alright,” Erwin told Levi calmly. He didn’t look put out in the least by Levi’s anger. The bastard had been expecting this. He was truly ready for everything that could come his way. Levi hated it. “He’s on a need to know basis only, because I don’t want to scare him too much. Do you understand everything that’s riding on him? That amount of pressure is going to psyche him out, and he won’t be able to concentrate properly. We need him completely alert.”

Levi sighed and relaxed a bit more fully against the pillows on his bed. “How is the trip to Shiganshina looking?”

“I haven’t brought it to the higher ups yet,” Erwin told him quietly. His brows were furrowed, and he leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees as he clenched his hands into fists. “Something doesn’t feel right. I…every time that I go to bring up the basement, the words catch in my throat. Something in the pit of my stomach tells me that we shouldn’t let them know about it. I don’t know which of those council members is the one that we can’t trust, but I feel like one of them isn’t on our side.”

Levi was silent. He trusted Erwin’s instincts. He had a lot of experience dealing with these people, and had been in the politics of the community since he had been there. If he thought that there was something off about them, then there probably was. “So, in other words, this excursion isn’t going to be approved by anyone.”

Erwin shook his head. “It can’t be if we don’t want the wrong people knowing about it. All we can do is give word to the people that we know that we can trust and see if they want to go on this suicide mission with us.”

Levi nodded. Erwin was right. This really was just a suicide mission.

Erwin managed a smile. “Just focus on getting back on your feet. We’ll set a day for this when you’re well enough to come.” He was silent for a few heartbeats. “Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss with me? I have to meet with someone in a few minutes if not.”

Levi just shook his head silently.

Erwin stood up and smiled at Levi. The smile was a genuine one, that made Levi’s chest fill up with that strange warmth all over again. He hated the feeling, because he knew that it meant that Erwin was starting to become his friend. That was the last thing that Levi really needed. “I do hope that you get to your feet soon, soldier. It’s been strange walking around without running into your scowling face around the grounds.”

Levi just grunted noncommittedly and Erwin turned around and left the room. Thankfully, the other three didn’t come back in. Levi was fairly certain that he would have attempted to strangle Hange and Isabel if he had to look at one more reproachful or gleeful look from either of them. He settled back and closed his eyes. He might as well get some sleep in since he wouldn’t be doing anything else for the next few days.

 

Armin was waiting for Erwin in his office when he walked in. His back was stiff as he sat in the chair. Erwin could tell that he was trying his best to look like he was calm, but it was obvious that the man was itching to start pacing around the room. He became even stiffer once he realized that Erwin was there. “You asked to see me, sir?” Armin asked without even turning around to look.

“Yes,” Erwin replied. “I wanted to speak with you. It’s been long enough, and I pray that you have had some sense put back into your brain.”

“I…I refuse to lie and say that I regret my actions,” Armin said.

Erwin felt a grudging respect for the way that Armin stood by what he did, consequences be damned. “I’m not looking for an apology, Arlert,” Erwin told him as he walked around his desk and sat down. He clasped his hands together on the top of the desk and looked at the blond. “I understand that you’ll do anything to keep Eren alive. I realize that now, and I’m here to tell you that I won’t do anything to get in the way of that, but you need to understand that right now, the best way to keep your friend breathing is to follow orders. If you want to come with us to Shiganshina, then you will follow my orders to the letter. While we’re there, if you put any of us at risk because you refuse to obey me, then I will not hesitate to execute you. Understand that I don’t want to do this. I’m warning you now because I don’t want to see you hurt. Please just listen to what I say, so that as many of us can come home as possible.”

Armin nodded slowly, much to Erwin’s surprise. Though he figured that there wasn’t much room for argument with what he said or the tone that he said it in. He didn’t want to have to scold him for everything, but he had done some stupid things for someone so smart. It was frustrating to Erwin to say the least.

“Permission to speak, sir?” Armin asked quietly.

“Granted,” Erwin replied. He leaned back in his seat and looked Armin over. The man looked as though he was about to faint, though Erwin knew better than to actually believe that. He had more steel in him than half of the soldiers that were under his command.

“We should send out scouts to look over the Shiganshina district. It’s the only way that we will have an idea of how many Titans are occupying the city. Right now, we have no way to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“I’ve thought about that,” Erwin told him. “I just haven’t decided who to send.”

“Connie and Sasha,” Armin replied immediately. “I trained with them, sir. They are very instinctual, and Sasha comes from a family of hunters. If anyone has the ability to stay alive, it’s them.”

“And why Springer?” Erwin questioned.

“Of all people, I know that he’ll watch Sasha’s back,” Armin said quietly. “He’s crazy enough to do what he has to, but he doesn’t have Eren’s death-wish.”

“Very well,” Erwin said with a curt nod. “I’ll trust your judgement. You still have your position as my advisor. You and Hange will be assisting me in Shiganshina as my strategic team. You’ll both be in charge of squads. I have faith in both of you to. Eren Jaeger will be on your squad. Your main priority is to keep Eren alive. Do you think that you can do that?”

Armin looked at him, his blue eyes bright with a fierce determination that made him certain that he had chosen the right person for the job. “Yes, sir. I can handle this.”


End file.
